


Searching For Open Pathway

by reflectivemuse



Series: The Red and Blue Circuit [1]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Adult Language, F/M, Intrigue, adventure/travel, romance/sexual content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-14 00:45:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4543677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reflectivemuse/pseuds/reflectivemuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mattie joins Leo Elster and his Synth family on a quest across Europe to find a missing scientist before Edwin Hobb does. Along the way, Mia finds romance, Fred discovers his love for dubstep, Max discovers he really enjoys books on tape, and Niska adopts a dog. And Leo and Mattie reconnect as mature adults after being apart for five years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. <click to run>

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PlumeBluue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlumeBluue/gifts).



> sorry about the length, everyone. It was meant to be a one shot, but my writing style tends to be a bit more descriptive in the third person. Hope you enjoy this first chapter, and I will start working on the second very soon.

Aveiro, Portugal

 

Mattie Hawkins never thought she’d see the day where she found herself willing to kill for a bit of fresh air. But there was a city outside, resting under an intense blue sky; below that sky, the water in the surrounding canals mirrored it like dull glass. Thinking about the gentle water that filled the city canals made her thirsty. She’d been trapped inside her hotel room for the past thirty-six hours. And unfortunately, that room did not come with a view.

The thirst was easier to manage, so long as she had a bathroom sink and was still allowed to keep the glass cups that the staff set out for the Tartaruga’s guests. Given that the people responsible for her captivity were attempting to deprive her as much as humanly possible, Mattie supposed that the cups remained there out of generous consideration. Or out of generous oversight.

Her room at present looked like it belonged in some sort of low-level mental hospital, with a sand-coloured carpet that felt much too vast now that all of her belongings had been cleared out and taken for inspection. Oh, and there was also the matter of her sheets being ripped off her bed and tossed aside. Mattie had done that herself, and while screaming out of frustration, too. She was in a barely furnished box, encompassed by four white walls. Meanwhile, there was a gust of wind with her name on it, and she knew just who she’d sacrifice for it if the choice ever came.

Not for much longer, a dark thought spoke to her. The people holding her hostage at the Tartaruga were waiting for someone else to arrive and take her, and the fact that they wouldn’t tell her who that person was made her dry throat and stifled lungs seem like childish complaints in comparison. Because they could tell her as many personal facts as her profile could provide, from her grades in secondary school to the last time she attended a football game, and she still would never buy that she was a national security threat waiting for Interpol. Interpol likely would not send only one agent to bring a suspected terrorist into custody.

Mattie tried to remember any potential crimes she could have committed lately. She hadn’t hacked in ages. She might have stolen her flatmate’s favourite album and hidden it inside her laundry hamper, but it was the worst dubstep she’d ever heard and its owner deserved to be arrested for it more than Mattie did. 

But then again, the first boy who had ever really taken a fancy to her had called her a “sexy terrorist.” 

What a wonderful holiday this turned out to be. At that moment, Mattie would have traded the Portuguese sun and hot blue sky for her home’s hint of outdoor light in the grey sky for anything. She would have traded it for the bangers and mash she’d been eating on campus before she left. 

She wished she’d never gone to Leeds. 

A week ago, she was there at university, compulsively checking her email. Boring stuff like her mum’s usual “when are you coming home” letter and notifications for homework updates were in there, but that day she found something different. Something she’d been hoping for.

 

Dear Miss Hawkins

I’m afraid I don’t understand your question. Are you inquiring about the specific technology used to create a synthetic model? Or are you referring to synthetic emotional consciousness? If the former, it is patented and you’d do better writing to Edwin Hobb for an internship. He is the CEO of Synthetic Software, INC.  
As for the latter, it does not exist. Perhaps one day your generation or the next will see it come to fruition, but because of your earnest persistence, the most help I can give now is a referral to some of my former colleagues who have been studying that aspect of artificial intelligence for years. Keep in mind that these are scientists, any of which may reject contact or not reply at all.

Kevin Almeida  
RUA DO FAROL 2  
AVEIRO  
3870-301 TORREIRA  
PORTUGAL 

 

ALAN FARADAY  
LANDMARK HOUSE  
HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE ROAD  
LONDON  
W6 9EJ  
UNITED KINGDOM

 

Nathalie Verte  
27 RUE PASTEUR  
14390 CABOURG  
FRANCE

 

Delta Drives  
123 McLean Avenue  
Apt 6C  
Staten Island, NY 10311

 

Thomas Michel  
Röntgenstr. 9  
67133 MAXDORF  
GERMANY

 

P.S. I advise that you refrain from any following attempts to contact me. I shall offer no further response.  
Kind regards,  
Noah Amsler

 

“Bloody hell,” said Mattie, releasing the breath she’d been holding. Noah Amsler, the Noah Amsler, whom she’d been warned would not be interested in breaking his reclusion to talk to an undergraduate in Leeds, just emailed her. She knew one of her professors in the university’s synthetic tech program had been pushing particularly hard to get Mattie in touch with Amsler, but even with that Mattie’s chances had been low.

She looked at the list of addresses Amsler had provided once more, and returned to her inbox. Mattie hit the reply icon above her mother’s email.  
Don’t worry, Mum, I’ll be there. There’s something else I want to do in London.

“Alright, Mr. Faraday,” said Mattie with a slight grin. “You’re not going to give me no for an answer, either.”

The right thing to do, of course, had been to visit her family first. Laura Hawkins opened her front door and greeted Mattie with beaming emotion. “Oh,” sighed her mother, tears welling in her eyes. 

“Mum, seriously. I’ve only gone a month without visiting this time,” said Mattie, although she was discomfited by guilt all the same.

“Ah, I know, I know,” murmured Laura.

Because Laura was no longer working full-time, it was just them in the house for the moment. Mattie’s father was at work, her brother Toby was out with some friends, and Sophie had dance practice after school. So the mother and daughter sat at the dining table drinking tea and sharing updates.

“You’ve changed so much since your graduation,” smiled Laura. 

Mattie stared down at her cup. “It’s been five years.”

Laura shook her head, marveling. “I know,” she said again.

But she didn’t. Mattie had wanted to bring up the events of five years ago for a while now, but there was hesitation on her part and reluctance on Laura’s.

It’s okay, Mum, Mattie thought. I’m sure loads of people meet synthetic beings that would sacrifice themselves for others, make jokes, and have families. They probably meet boys who’ve died and come back as half-synthetics too. No big deal. How’s your tea?

But by the end of this thought, the words stung as she thought of the Synths – people really – that had forever changed the lives of her family. Most especially Mattie’s. Which reminded her –

“I’ve got an academic referral from Noah Amsler,” she informed Laura.

“That’s wonderful dear – who’s Noah Amsler?”

Mattie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Just another genius who can help me claim another scholarship and continue my educational pursuits, Mum. He’s the one that invented a device which can wirelessly contact and communicate with Synths.”

“That’s good news. Sorry, dear, I don’t keep up with the news as much as I should these days.” Mattie supposed that was probably a good thing. An ambassador from Sudan had been assassinated on his way to a NATO conference. It turned out that the culprit had  
been a Synth, although Mattie couldn’t imagine how it could have killed someone when harming a human was against the very core of their programming.

Unless it was a Synth created without that programming. But she knew none of her Synths would ever do that. For one, it risked breaching the low profile they were intent on maintaining. Leo would never have allowed that. Secondly, they were good souls. They weren’t dangerous. Well, except for the blonde one. But Mattie had the impression that even Niska wasn’t that bad.

Her thoughts then returned to her mother. Laura still looked so weak, even a year after her treatments were done. The cancer had taken so much from her, but not her kindness. Not her ability to hold her own in an argument or her active interest in her children’s lives. 

Her mother now asked, “What was the other thing you wanted to do while in London?” 

Shaking her head, Mattie answered, “It can wait.”

 

She spent a whole day with her family before Laura encouraged her to go seek out Alan Faraday. But when Mattie looked up the phone number for his research facility and dialed, his lab assistant picked up and gave Mattie startling news. Alan Faraday hadn’t been seen or heard from in a month.

Wondering if hermitry had suddenly affected Faraday the way it had Amsler, it was Mattie’s natural instinct to doggedly venture to his residence next. Empty. It was cleared out a week ago by Faraday himself, who had announced himself that he would not return.

Now she was in Portugal, trying for another name on the list. And, literally tied up as she was, she swore that Kevin Almeida would get what was coming to him.

A strong knock at the door broke Mattie out of her nostalgic spell. “Open up!” said a male voice on the other side. There was no Portuguese accent, so she knew whatever he wanted wouldn’t be for her benefit. “I said, ‘Open up!”’

“Bite me!” she snapped.

The knocking stopped. Another voice, this one female and accented, said, “Miss Hawkins, we would like to give you your cell phone back.”

Did they take her for an idiot? There was no way she was falling for that.

“Miss Hawkins, your mother has called. We need you to calm her down.”

“You’re lying.” Mattie hoped to God they were lying. She wasn’t sure Laura could survive the shock of this situation.

“Madalena,” coaxed the voice.

That’s it. Furiously, Mattie swung the door open. “It’s Matilda.”

The woman looked at her apologetically. Mattie glared at her and at the tall man beside her, the one who’d brought her in after Kevin Almeida reported her as a person of interest for the authorities. Whatever the fuck that meant.

“I’ll need some privacy,” she snapped.

The man and woman shared a questioning glance. She realized she may have better luck reasoning with the woman. That was, if they had an opportunity to speak alone.

But the man adjusted his tie and said, “We need to hear what you tell her.”

“Which will be what, exactly?”

“Whatever you want,” he replied. 

She raised an eyebrow in defiance. “Really? Is this what Interpol does, then? Locking people up and starving them without explaining why? Allowing them to lie to their families about it -”

“We never said you have to lie,” interrupted the man. “And we’re not Interpol.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

He folded his arms, preparing to most likely to use forceful tactics, when the woman said, “Let us step back, Mr. Roan. Give her some space, but stay within earshot.”

The man agreed, and once they were further down the hallway, Mattie unlocked her screen. They weren’t kidding about her mother needing to be calmed down. There were nine messages from Laura, and Mattie hadn’t answered her phone once.

She also had a text message. Unknown contact. Mattie stared, hardly believing it.

If you’re in a fix, text me back.

One day upon her arrival and settling into the Tartaruga, Mattie had received her first text message from this unknown person. Go home, it read.

The day of her interview with Almeida, there was a text saying that if she didn’t leave Portugal, she would regret it. She’d tried to trace it, reverse dial the number, even hack it with her rusty skills. But there was nothing; the person must have either been using a disposable phone or a booth.

When they’d brought her in, kicking and using every single English curse word in existence – and some German ones too – she assumed that they were the ones who had texted her those messages. They’d tried to run her out of town, and that didn’t work so now they were detaining her. That was what she’d been thinking.

Until now.

Mattie was tempted to answer yes right away, but what if it was seen by Roan? He could take away her phone for good or move her to someplace worse. He’d make sure that she would no longer have water glasses. Such small luxuries had to be considered.  
She thought for a moment and, pretending to dial her mother’s number, she texted back quickly.

All good here. Meeting some lovely people and having a grand time. Miss u!

After she hit send, she called her mother. Making sure she was loud enough to hear, she said cheerfully, “Mum! Hey.”

“Mattie!” Laura’s voice was alarmed. “Thank God, I thought you’d been abducted!”

More or less, she thought, looking over at Roan resentfully.

“Why haven’t you been picking up?” Laura asked. 

“Oh, you know, been too busy enjoying life as a tourist.” Mattie’s fingers trembled, and she prayed her voice wasn’t going to shake. She had to get through this. She could not shake.

The conversation went on for two more minutes, but finally she couldn’t stand being observed with such scrutiny as she gave her mother reassurances, and bid her mother farewell for the evening before she got stuck on the phone talking with her dad and the rest of her family next.

I have to get the hell out of here, she seethed in silence as she returned her phone to the man. Forget Kevin Almeida, she hoped that whoever was offering to help her would take out Roan first.

The good news was, they did take her to a better room after she’d cooperated. They brought her bread and water and let her use the lavatory. The bad? It was the check - in desk where she’d be surrounded by five people in various parts of the room, watching her every move. And she had no idea where some of them were. 

She thought she spotted one stranger talking to another while paying her side glances every ten minutes or so. He could have been one of them. It could have been both of them. 

Eventually Mattie found herself just staring at the desk. Staring at the receptionist’s calculator. It was dark, hand-sized, and quite thin. It looked very much like –

“Excuse me,” said Mattie to the synth receptionist. “I need to sum up my room charges. Could I use your calculator?”

The synth looked at her skeptically. She said to Mattie, “I do not think it matters now. You may wait.”

Trying to suppress the obviously false sincerity in her voice, Mattie smiled and said, “I just – I had such a good time with the staff and all. You know, before this. I want to make sure they get a large tip. Please.”

The synth, her face as emotionless as blank paper, refused. Luckily for Mattie, she was called away minutes later to address one of the other guest’s complaints about the water pressure in the shower. Mattie scooted closer to the desk and with a sweep of her hand she slipped the calculator into her coat pocket.

“What do you think you’re doing?” asked the security guard behind her. Mattie winced. She’d forgotten about her personal watchdog. 

“You know what I’m doing.” She tried to make herself sound annoyed, even as her terrified heart was racing between words. She said quickly, “I really need to use the restroom.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Again?” 

“That time of the month,” she said. Please let it faze him. Please please please.

He shook his head, and her face fell. Then he told her, “You’ll have five minutes. Wait here, I’ll have Albert take you.”

Well, she sure as hell wasn’t going to wait. She waited twelve seconds for him to be away on the other side of the room, then she stood slowly. And, edging away from the wall at first, she broke into a run. She could hear the shouts of her guards two seconds later, and ran. She found the stairs, but someone else was on her way up and found Mattie first.

“Madalena!”

She stood facing the more sympathetic-looking woman from earlier. She breathed heavily, wondering if this was checkmate for her. And then the woman nudged her down the stairs. Once they’d hit the last step, she faced Mattie, who said, “My name is Matilda.”

“And my name is Rosa.” Then the woman handed an astounded Mattie back her cellphone. “I am a friend of Kevin Almeida’s. He apologizes sincerely for his actions. Turning you in was the only way they’d let him out.”

“Wait – let him out for what?” 

“No time, no time. There is a car waiting for you outside, it will take you to wherever you feel you would be safe. Go, Matilda, go! Go!” 

Mattie handed her the calculator and said quickly, “Here, let them think I swapped this with the phone so that it’ll look like you made a mistake. Thank you!”

Rosa nodded, and Mattie ran as fast as she could, hearing Rosa’s convincing shouts that she had gone down the stairs echoing behind her. There was a door at the end of the stairs. Perfect. Out of breath, Mattie went straight for the first car on the road that honked.

She opened the door and fell inside, and she let tears fall out of her eyes for the first time in two days as the car began to roll along. As it picked up pace, Mattie checked her cellphone. 

No messages.

She squeezed her fist. Anger, confusion, disappointment, fear – too much was going on in her head as she typed.

Where the bloody hell r u?

“Where to, Miss?” asked the driver.

It seemed like forever before she could answer. She felt hot with tears and cold with anxiety and no one was going to answer -

1 New Message.

Sorry in France now. Talk later. Click on this link.

A link? Mattie tapped her screen, and it showed a digital ticket confirming a reservation. It was a digital plane ticket to Paris. Her hand went to her mouth to muffle her overwhelmed breathing.

“Miss? Where are you going?”

She cleared her throat. “The airport.” And I’d better damn well have some answers when I get there.


	2. <accessing secure connection>

Despite her hunger, Mattie slept an entire two hours during her economy class flight. It wasn’t nearly enough time. Her thoughts haunted her, both the fresh memories of her experience in Portugal, and the old ones that she realised might have some bearing in search of a plausible connection to those. Because no matter how valiantly she fought to focus on important events that didn’t expire five years ago, in her dreams it always came back to the ones that did.

Mattie vividly remembered Sophie’s role in her school’s production of Cinderella (well, she’d been an understudy actually), in which her poor little sister was backstage when she lost the fairy godmother’s magic wand on accident; she recalled Toby’s commencement ceremony as being even more disastrous because he’d forgotten to show up until the last minute; and every moment of her mother’s cancer was clear and etched into her mind. 

Surprisingly enough, Mattie also pondered much on the end of her last relationship. It had been with a boy named Michael, and they’d gone quite far before it was over. At least I can cross that experience off from my to-do list, a wry voice told her from inside her head.

At the end of the flight, she stumbled her way off the plane, her brain weakly spinning from exhaustion and hunger and disorientation from being on the ground again. The lights were too bright and there were too many people. And, without her suitcase and, more importantly, her computer, she felt like an amputee who could still feel a missing limb. All that she had left was her cellphone. With that in mind, she turned it on to see her next message.

1 New Voicemail, Unknown caller.

She tapped the icon to listen, and impatiently waited for the preceding automated voice to be done.

“You have one new message sent –“

The light on her screen went dark. “Oh no,” Mattie hissed, trying to turn it back on. “No no no. Damn it, please no!” The battery was dead. Those bastards in Portugal hadn’t bothered to charge her phone. So, she had no money, no computer, no working phone, and no clean clothes. Her last remaining chance to receive any kind of help was gone.

All that she could do now was to keep on walking until she could find herself a phone to borrow. But the terminal was massive, and the rest of Paris-Orly even more so. Keeping her ear out for anyone speaking English was going to be her next best move. She did know some French terms, but not enough to get by in this case. 

By the time she passed a café, she was ready to be sick. The smell of food – oh God. But soon everything blended together and faded away with each step she took.

Soon nothing felt real. Mattie found herself staring up at a ceiling coloured with soft blue, highlighted by a thin rainbow veil. Cool air fluttered across her face. A floating thought suggested that she was outside, lying on her back. Then, her vision swimming, she turned and her cheek scratched cement. Mattie groaned as she felt arms pull her up, a voice in her ear speaking words that she didn’t care to understand at that moment. She was too busy wanting to get out of there, needing to sleep, knowing that there was no way out now. They’d found her.

“Let – let…me go,” she muttered. One of her latest kidnappers walked in front of her. He was pale. Dark hair. Clean-shaven, in a navy blue jumper. That much was the last thing she saw before closing her eyes and falling into darkness.

 

She dreamed she was in a small room, illuminated by flickering candlelight. The bed was a bit hard, so perhaps it was an old box-spring mattress? And the scent of flowers – not, it was more fragrant, like potpourri. To her left was a bed stand, with a glass of water half-full. It was a nice dream she was having – 

Wait just a second, thought Mattie. It’s real. This whole damn thing is bloody real.

There was a soft tap at the door, and she stiffened. A woman, roughly the age of her mother, with short brown hair and eyes, gave her a gentle smile. “Matilda?” she said, her French accent making it sound closer to Mathilde. My name is Nicole. How are you feeling?”

Mattie gave a small groan. “Like I’m about to meet the mafia.”

Taken aback at first, the corners of Nicole’s mouth turned upward. “Ah. He told me you’d recover quickly. Now I know what he meant.”

What who meant? Before Mattie could ask Nicole, the woman pressed a finger to her lips. “You may go downstairs anytime. But please be quiet. My sons are sleeping.”

Nicole carefully left the door ajar for Mattie, who now had some time to think about her options. She had to somehow have been taken, not by the people chasing her like she’d thought, but the people helping her instead.

She was still tired. She wanted more than anything to just sleep until she felt steady once more. But Mattie was a curious girl by nature, and her curiosity to see who’d saved her won out in the end.

So she slipped out of bed, taking one unbalanced footstep after the other, gripping the railing of the stairs as she did. The sounds of low-toned conversation was coming from the dining room. Mattie froze when her name was spoken.

“If Mattie doesn’t have it, then yes, she’ll have to return to London,” said a young man.

A female voice argued, “She’s going home either way. If she has it, she’ll give it to us. If not -.”

Then another woman pointed out, “But she’ll still be in danger. There will be people looking for her.”

“If they could get to Faraday, they could get to her. Mia’s right, she’ll be safer with us.”

Still midway down the stairs, Mattie stepped down the rest of the stairs and interrupted breathlessly, “I should have known it was you.”

The Synths – the ones she’d always thought of as her Synths, regarded Mattie with varying expressions. Mia, her face full of concern, while Niska looked simply irritated. Fred’s face remained neutral. And, ever smiling, Max seemed to be the only one who was pleased to see her. 

Leo’s face was guarded as usual, but not with any sense of apathy on it. He spoke to Mattie first. “Good. We were just talking about you.”

“Deciding about me, yeah. I got that,” Mattie’s voice was droll. She couldn’t help but stare at him. Without his scruffy face and layers of shirts and coats, she’d barely recognized him. He’d grown his black hair longer and it curled over his ears now, but it hardly made up for the fact that he was wearing a dark blue jumper and fitting slacks.

He caught onto her staring and said in blank confusion, “What is it?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” Because regardless of his appearance, he was still Leo Elster, complete with the hunched shoulders that carried the weight of his own bleak world. She would not forget that, not ever.

Impatient, Niska said, “Are we going to stare at her all night or question her now?”

Mia interjected that they could wait until Mattie was a little bit stronger and more clear-headed. Fred suggested that she have some nourishment, and Max reminded them that there was a leftover bowl of stew meant for her.

The stew tasted fabulous. Of course it did, everything did for someone that wasn’t fed properly for two days, so Mattie’s appetite returned with a vengeance. She was only a quarter of the way done when Leo asked, “What happened in Portugal, Mattie?”

“Leo! At least let her finish eating,” chastised Mia.

He immediately said, “Look, Niska has a point. We need to decide what to do about this situation right now.”

Situation, Mattie thought. That’s a tactful way of putting it. But she took two more bites and, reluctantly, she dropped her spoon into the bowl. “First you tell me how you knew I was there,” she demanded. She saw his look of protest and pointed out quickly, “Your story obviously starts before mine does. I want to know why I was locked up for two days with nothing to keep me alive but tap water. It might even help me know what kind of details you’re looking for.”

She felt smug then, knowing that she could beat him in an argument. Leo cleared his throat. “Fine. We’re going through a list of scientists our father had worked with before he died. One of them invented a device that can control the movements and actions of Synthetics without even manually accessing their systems cores.”

“Okay…” Mattie said uncertainly, prompting him to elaborate.

“Okay, basically, imagine what that technology can do in the wrong hands. Any Synthetic can be tapped, given commands over a wireless communicator. They can be used for criminal actions, like armed robbery or stealing government secrets or -.”

“Or assassinating an ambassador,” Mattie realised in horror . 

He nodded. “That Synthetic was destroyed, you know. Soon they’ll all be destroyed, and we’ll go down with them too.”

“So you’re looking for Noah Amsler,” Mattie concluded. “He’s in Switzerland, isn’t he?”

Fred spoke, “Not anymore. He disappeared the same way Faraday did. All of his contacts who have spoken with you seem to have been visited by the same people.”

“Who?”

Leo rubbed the space between his eyes and said, “People who work for Edwin Hobb. He’s looking for that technology as well.”

“But the assassination - ,”

“Was a demonstration. Faraday was coerced into helping Hobb arrange the whole thing. But Faraday only gave him a Synthetic he already had. And now Faraday is gone, and we’re not sure whether Hobb or the authorities got to him first.”

This was a chilling thought. “Why are they after me?”

“Because you have the list. Yes, the list of addresses that Amsler gave you. They aren’t sure who exactly has the formulas required to control the Synths, but Hobb’s people convinced the authorities that Amsler was the one responsible for authorising that assassination. We were tracking him down ourselves when we learned the same thing that Hobb had: that Amsler had destroyed all of his evidence except for the list he’d given you. Ever since then, you’ve been watched.”

Mattie’s spine tingled. She’d been stalked this whole time by both Hobb’s team and Leo’s family.

“Now, your turn,” he prompted her.

“Well, I knew something was up right from the get-go,” she began.  
He raised his eyebrows, and she said, “Yeah, I got this cryptic text message from some weird bloke who didn’t even pick up when I dialed back. Moving on…”

She described her interview with Kevin Almeida. He’d been well-mannered, but she sensed a shiftiness about him that she couldn’t explain. He told her about his work with Amsler, about how he’d only ever met the man twice and communicated the rest by email. “It was very difficult,” Almeida had confessed. “I could not even see any of the formulas, and now everyone is -.”  
He’d stopped there, and despite Mattie’s further questioning, he only asked one in return.

“Why me?” Mattie told them. “I was nothing to Amsler, so why give me Almeida’s name and where to find him? I told him I don’t know, I was just supposed to be looking for a scholarship. But he told me then that he knew what I was looking for. He began looking over his shoulder, and then he excused himself, got up and told the staff at the hotel that he thought I was part of a dangerous conspiracy based on what I’d just told him.”

Leo sighed then, and Mattie stopped. He seemed disappointed.

“So Almeida never gave you the formula,” he said.

Frowning, Mattie said, “Of course not...What, is that what you wanted? Is that the only reason you rescued me? It was for the formula?” She pushed back the furious tears threatening her image of confidence. What if that was the only reason she was there?

“No! That’s not what I said. It would just have made things a lot easier.”

Max finally said, “But you still have the list?”

The list. Mattie closed her eyes briefly, suddenly very tired. “Ugh. It was in my email. I had to leave my laptop behind when I ran. All I have left is my phone, and the battery’s dead.”

Suddenly coming to life, Fred said, “And your phone has access to the list?” 

She nodded.

“We can charge it,” he said.

“And then what?”

Leo said, “Then we go to a party.”

Leo Elster had just said party. That they were going to a party. What little she’d recognised of him before was dissipating quickly before her eyes. He was practically an alien to her now, an alien dressed as a sloaney!

He said, “Amsler had his list, the one that Hobb’s after. But we have one name. We figured it out ourselves, since this one’s quite famous and definitely worked with Amsler.”  
Mattie’s jaw dropped. “Nathalie Verte. That’s why you’re here in France.”

“She can’t be approached by Hobb right away so long as she’s in the spotlight. And she has a foundation event to attend tomorrow evening, so that’s where we’re going.”

“If we can get tickets to attend,” spoke out Niska crossly.

Leo held up a hand. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll sneak in or something, it’ll be fine.”

Mattie thought about it. “I have a referral from Amsler himself. Nathalie might listen to me, right?”

Now it was all of their turn to look at Mattie as though she were an alien. Her heart pounded with their silent deliberation.

Finally, Leo decided, “That’s it. She’s coming with us.”

Niska said sourly, “I’m going to charge.”

The Synths dispersed into the parlor, leaving Mattie alone with Leo and Max. And her stew, of course. “So, a party,” she said.

“This is important, Mattie. No room for errors here. You get us in, we talk to Nathalie Verte.”

You’re still a control freak, she thought, although this knowledge made her feel strangely giddy. “And after?” she said softly.

He hesitated. “Then we run.” 

Once he was gone, Mattie finished her stew. She didn’t feel like going to sleep yet, so she went over to sit by Max.

“So…” she began. “What have you been doing all these years?”

Max smiled again. “For a while, it was simply Leo, Mia, and myself. We were together, but still rather sad. Then we found and fixed Fred. It was quiet then for a year. Then Leo began working to support us.”

“Working?” said Mattie in disbelief. “Doing what?” 

“He fixed computers. Took odd freelance jobs.”

“Found a razor,” Mattie ventured. 

Max laughed at this. Then he sobered enough to say, “He was quite worried about your predicament. He was not certain we would make it in time.”

Mattie bit her lip, her body feeling a bit warmer inside. Hearing Max’s words almost made up for Portugal. “He’s changed.”

“No,” said Max. “This is the Leo we’ve always known. He’s only now decided to show you.”

She remembered thinking of him as a wounded baby animal once; Leo had alternated between lashing out and holding back an internal cry that seemed to have been harboring there forever. Maybe Max and the others couldn’t see it because they were too close to him, but Mattie saw it.

And she...maybe she could love it.

Love is the wrong word, she thought distantly.

But Max, perhaps understanding it, said, “Welcome to Paris, Mattie.”


	3. <access code granted>

Leo was awake just before dawn, when the light coming through his window was a haze of blue and white-gold. Beautiful. Leo always had a fascination with windows. To him, they served both as protection from the outside world and as permission to see it. And thus he rested by the one in Nicole Moncoeur’s secondary guest room, with Max sitting in one corner and Mia on the other.

Sleeping was less than welcome pastime. Whether it was the nightmare about his death, or the stress of being on the run, it did nothing but ill to his health. Tonight was different, though. Tonight, he realised just how many ramifications he was risking. How he was on the verge of losing everything. Everyone. A synth in his position would never lie, free will or none. But Leo wasn’t entirely a synth. And for that his heart ached, because his pain could fade so easily if he was.

I’ll tell them, he decided. I’ll tell them everything after tonight.

“Leo,” whispered Mia gently. “Go back to sleep, Leo.”

He closed his eyes, but he didn’t sleep. 

Mia was never going to trust him again.

***

Once daylight had fully dawned upon the Moncoeurs’ country house, bustling preparations for that evening began. Fred, who was getting along well with Nicole’s two young sons, was the designated babysitter, while Mia and Nicole talked about what to expect for the night.

Max meanwhile had little to do for the moment, so Nicole had lent him her recorded readings of Jane Austen for his entertainment. 

As for Niska...she was somewhere around. Leo sincerely hoped that she was working on being nice. 

The biggest triumph of the day was when Mattie came downstairs and proudly announced that Dr. Nathalie Verte would see them. “At first she was willing to meet with me tomorrow by appointment, but then I told her that I would only be passing through Paris and had only tonight, and she agreed to a brief meeting,” she said.

“It’ll have to be more than brief,” said Leo, folding his arms. “So, it’s going to be your job to convince Dr. Verte to step outside of the foundation gala and give us the formula or the name of the person who has it. Mattie, do you think you could do that?”

“Yeah, I’ll just tell her that I brought a handful of Synths to see her because I’m being hunted by Edwin Hobb’s Interpol impostors and that she’s our only hope of saving the world from remote-controlled killer Synthetics.” She folded her arms, daring a challenge from him.

How is it possible that we’d gone separate ways for five years, and now we meet again but I still can’t manage a proper conversation with her, thought Leo as he frowned.

Weary already, he finally said, “Right. You’ll need to work on that.”

Then Mattie suggested, “Or we could talk about it on the way inside. I’m sure you’ll have some wonderful advice.”

Leo blinked. “Come again?”

Her face turned at him, uncertain. “You’re my plus one,” she told him.

At first Leo thought he hadn’t heard Mattie correctly – Niska had just slammed the door on the way in, and it distracted him.

“What’s going on?” she said, her eyes darting at the varying degrees of facial surprise in the room.

“Not entirely sure,” Leo said slowly.

Mattie rolled her eyes and informed him, “I told Dr. Verte your name was Leopold Bond and that you are the legacy of Bond Tech.”

Before Leo could protest his ridiculous sounding name, Niska beat him to it. “Bond Tech doesn’t even exist!”

“We’ll tell her it’s a Canadian upstart or something,” Mattie shrugged. “No big deal.”

Leo suddenly felt very cold at this thought. He didn’t like the idea, he didn’t like people, and at the moment he didn’t like Mattie very much either. “We had a plan,” he growled. “You said you could do this on your own, and now you’re going to – .”

“Going to what?” she interrupted. “Let you play a part in this? This was meant to be your big mission first! What exactly is your problem?”

“Well, what’s yours?” He was getting a bit hot in the face, and he heard Mia say behind him to calm down. But his confidence was shattered in that; they’d already gone too far.

Mattie snapped, “My problem? Is that I’m not some fucking spy!”

Leo froze upon seeing Nicole’s shocked expression, her arms around her boys. The older one, Pierre, put his hand over his mouth and said in French, “Bad word, bad word!” On the other hand, little Olivier, who didn’t know any English, just recited, “Fuckin, fucking Maman!”

Pale-faced and humiliated, Mattie said to Nicole, “I’m sorry,” and walked out of the now silent room.

From behind him, Mia said to Leo, “You need to go after her and apologise.”

Niska said, “What? She’s the one who just taught a child his first swear. And she should have asked before roping Leo into actually attending the gala. He’ll likely bolt the moment they’re formally announced.”

Gritting his teeth, Leo thought, thank you, Niska. It’s a good thing I can always count on you for a healthy dose of patronisation.

Then Mia said sternly, “Apologise, Leo. And thank her for coming up with such a brilliant plan.”

He blew some air out from his cheeks. “Later,” he decided. “If she and I are going to a high-profile benefit together, we’re going to need a few things. Max?”

His brother didn’t respond. He was smiling though, his borrowed headphones placed firmly over his ears. Leo groaned. “Niska, when he’s done, ask Max to repair and charge Mattie’s phone. We’re going to need it.”

“Ask him?”

“Nicely,” he added.

Then Nicole came over to him and said in a low voice, “I will talk to your friend, if you do not mind?”

“Ummh.” Leo, feeling somewhat guilty and in defense of Mattie, was about to tell Nicole he did mind. But the woman was practically a living saint. All that she did for them, without complaint, and just because of what came out of a chance meeting down by the riverside. Mattie’s feelings were safe in Nicole’s hands. So he whispered, “Mia and I will be back close to the time of the event. Could you just...I don’t mean make Mattie up or – .”

“Ah,” said Nicole, understanding. “Of course. I have a few dresses if she needs something to wear.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” said Leo. “When I get back, trust me, she won’t.”

 

***  
Five years ago, Mia remembered Leo spending his money on the barest of necessities. It was the requirement for their survival. He used it to get out of life-or-death situations, to pay for gasoline, and chips. Much to Mia’s chagrin, he also used it to purchase alcohol.

And now he was inside a shopping mall’s fashion departments, looking for a suit that would help Paris embrace him as someone worth the time. 

Or maybe Leo didn’t want to embrace Paris...

“What about this one?” Mia held up a strapless green dress with organza trim.

“Hm?” Leo turned to examine it. “No, not that one.”

She sighed. This was the seventh dress they’d gone through, and Mia knew more about Mattie’s size than Leo did, but he still seemed to insist on much bolder choices. Mia’s next selection was princess-cut, empire-waist, and deep red.

He shook his head.

“It’s not for you, it’s for Mattie,” she reminded him.

“That one isn’t,” he said, pulling open the racks. He continued talking. “Mattie would have her own style. She’s edgy. You know, we’ve never once seen her in anything other than flannel and denim. Which means that she has a unique taste that no current trend can match so she chooses to stay comfortable.”

“Really?” Mia smiled, bemused. “And how do you know so much about this?”

His mouth opened partway but closed awkwardly a split second later. “No idea.”

But Mia wasn’t fooled. “Have you been watching What Not To Wear reruns with Max again?”

Leo stopped suddenly. He pulled out a dress and held it out to Mia. It was a long black halter dress, with pleats in the middle of the flowing skirt, and a shimmering print pattern etched all around the dress.

“Why don’t you see if you can get this in her size? I’ve got to go find a tie,” he said gruffly.

Mia stared at the dress in her hands. It was a bit different. Pretty, tasteful, and the neckline was edgy. It was, in fact, perfect for Mattie.

“Leo,” she whispered in amazement.

***

Mattie sat on Nicole's front doorstep, absentmindedly picking off tiny flecks of chipped paint. She had never intended on eventually visiting France. It was not just because of any negative descriptions she'd heard regarding Paris. She simply lacked the inclination, and had therefore chosen to study German instead. At least that language had excellent sounding curse words.

One of which she wished she'd never learned. Oh, she'd always known it since from an early age, but she’d used it infrequently. Until she heard her dad yell it at her mother one night during a fight. From that point on it became more of a habit, like smoking. Only she'd managed to quit smoking after her mother beacme sick. She thought she'd never grow out of the word before tonight.

Who would have thought that Mattie's misery in France would turn out to be because of something she thought she'd left behind in London?

Maybe I should just opt for a train ticket back to Leeds, she thought. After all, if Niska's hostility and Leo's ridiculous turnabout were anything to go by, Mattie was less than welcome there and she would rather take her chances with the real Interpol than hear that spoken out loud.

"Mathilde?" Nicole joined her side and took a seat.

"I'm sorry," said Mattie at once. 

"I know. But you should come inside, oui? It will get colder soon."

"But it will still be warmer out here than in there," she said, thinking of Niska.

But Nicole smiled. "Did you never wonder why you are here, a guest in my house even though I have only known your friends for three days?"

Of course Mattie had. She'd just assumed it would have been tactless to ask someone she hardly knew. "I'm guessing this isn't a bed and breakfast inn."

"No," the woman chuckeled softly. "After my husband passed, my boys are all that I have remaining of my family. We were catching frogs at the river. I had Olivier in my arms but Pierre, he went in. Then your Synths were passing by. I did not even have to cry for help, because one of them - the one you call Fred - was already reaching into the water. He nearly was pulled in as well, but he grabbed hold of Pierre and pulled him out. So you see, Mathilde, there is nothing you could say that would make me regret taking you in and helping. In whatever way I can, I will help you." She smoothed Mattie's hair the way Laura did, which hurt so badly as a reminder that tears stung her eyes and slipped diwn her face. Nicole didn't even need to ask what was wrong; she only pulled the girl in closer and put an arm around her back.

"Sssh. Let us go upstairs, ma chere," she said gently. "We have work to do."

The work turned out to be applying cosmetics. Mattie did not normally wear makeup, and she'd known she wouldn't like the feel of it on her face. But she couldn't deny Nicole's talent at subtle transformation. She held out a shimmery powder and said, "For your eyes. Try not to cry."

But god, nearly everything about this woman just brought Mattie to tears. Especially when she curled Matties shoulder length hair and said, "There. Can you not tell that I've always wished for a daughter?"

When she was done, she held out a hand. It was a small crystal pendant on a sterling silver chain. Mattie backed away. "Oh that's alright. I can't - I mean it's too much. And I don't really wear jewelry, so..."

"Que?" Nicole looked startled. "Why not? Does your mother not give you anything? Nothing special from her mother, at least?" 

Mattie shook her head."My grandma...I've never met her. She uh...she never gave my mum anything at all."

She waited for a look of unwanted sympathy, but it never came. Instead, Nicole said firmly. "Then keep this, Mathilde. I want you to remember whatever joy you feel tonight."

"And if I don't feel any?"

Nicole put a gentle hand on Mattie's cheek. "Then do it to remember me."

They returned down downstairs. Mattie felt suddenly self-conscious as everyone gathered round to see Nicole's fairy godmother results. Max took off his headphones at last and smiled. "You look very well, Mattie."

"Thanks." I think, she thought.

Fred, who had been listening to some kind of electronica beat with one of Nicole's sons' radio, turned off the device and said brightly, "Yes, Madame Moncouer has done a wonderful job."

Mattie was fearing Niska's opinion, but all that the Synth said was, "It's not bad. Are you going to wear a shirt and jeans to the ball though?"

"She's not," said Leo, opening the door. He and Mia came inside, both carrying a long blue plastic bag on a hanger.

"We don't have much time," said Leo, handing Mattie the bag. "Here, take this, go upstairs with Mia and put it on. Mind with the zipper."

Stunned, Mattie did as he said, with Nicole going up alongside her and Mia. Then, in the dress room, with trepidation, Mattie uncovered the dress.

Nicole gave a soft gasp of amazement. "Mon Dieu -" 

Mattie stared at v-neck cut and halter, the thin pleats and the sparkles amid swirling like constellation patterns in the smooth black fabric.

She turned to Mia, and with a dry throat said, "Thank you."

Mia smiled at her. "I didn't pick it out."

It wasn't possible. Not for Mattie, and especially not for Leo. No, there had to have been some kind of assistance from someone in the boutique.

But once Mia had left the room to announce Mattie was ready, Nicole laughed as she fixed the clasp on the necklace.

"What is it?"

"That boy," said the woman, "he does things for you that he never would for any other human being."


	4. <communication error>

With great difficulty, Mattie was trying to recall exactly why her last relationship failed. The obvious answer was easy: he seemed to worship the floor that her feet walked upon. It had bothered her, and then puzzled her even more when he began complimenting her flatmate Rebecca in the same fashion. Mattie had stepped aside and let them have each other (at least, until Michael lasted his trial period of 30 days with Skrillex.) But Mattie's pride had been hurt, and she was hoping now that more than vanity had been at play. She’d never needed nor cared to have someone make her feel attractive, yet here she was, realising her own shameful fear of being fickle was true. But she could hardly help it; even Niska had paid more positive attention to Mattie's appearance than Leo did. Fickle and stupid, she scolded herself. Because while she'd gone down the stairs and stopped at the impossible sight of Leo Elster in a black suit and tie, he'd merely taken a single-shot glance at her and announced they were ready to leave.

She knew it wasn't really like him to give compliments; she was lucky enough that Leo had once given her the "you're not stupid" assurance after she was beating herself up about overlooking a data code. But if he really did buy her the damn dress, Mattie felt there should have been a damn comment from him about it.

They rode together, Mia and Fred in one backseat row and Leo and Mattie in another. It was a forest green van (which was certain to look out of place in a lot full of limousines) with Niska behind the wheel and Max in the front seat beside her, along with his headphones and audiobook cd player. Niska frowned upon that. "You were supposed to leave those back at the house."

"Nicole has given it to me to keep. She said I will want it for travelling on the road. Besides, Harry Potter has not yet defeated Lord Voldemort."

Mattie exchanged a glance with Leo, who shrugged. Grinning, Mattie suggested, "You should see the films, Max. They don't take as long."

"Perhaps I will," agreed Max. "After I finish this collection, I will watch many things. You should listen to -."

"We're nearly there," interrupted Niska. "Max, you always tell the truth. But are you certain there was no misinterpretation about this being a gift?"

As Max answered, Mattie's fingers touched the crystal on below her neck. Perhaps it had been wrong to accept it from Nicole after all. She was lost within her contemplation when Leo shifted uncomfortably and brought her back to the car. He looked pale, sick even.

"Are you all right?" Mattie asked him as Niska was continuing to fail at her apparent goal of pushing Max into an argument.

Leo didn't answer right away. She wondered if he was so anxious about mingling with the rich and the intellectual crowds that he wasn't aware she'd spoken.

Then he said absently, "You've cut your hair. Since five years ago."

In all honesty, Mattie had been waiting for an opportunity to remark on his own hair and overall appearance. But something about the way he'd said it told her that it wouldn't be as much fun in his despondence.

But still, she was surprised.

"You remembered?"

Looking away from her, he tapped the side of his head.

Of course. He remembered everything.

The remainder of the ride to Paris was filled by Max and Fred discussing their respective interests. Fred had apparently been introduced to dubstep music by Nicole’s sons earlier that day. Out of context, it was a silly idea, watching two man-made beings have such an unmistakably human discussion. But Mattie was there, and she thought she could listen to it all night. 

It wasn’t until they pulled up and parked next to a car that definitely cost more than her university tuition that Mattie felt her palms sweat. Her shoulders were wired with tension, and every nerve inside her felt like a mixture of heat and ice. She stared up at the mansion, numbly taking in the ivory columns in its architecture, and the marble steps that led inside. 

She couldn’t do it. Even worse, she was unable to say that she couldn’t do it. The moment that she did, everyone would lose confidence in her, and it was too late to form another plan.

“Mattie, are you all right?” Max asked her.

“I’m fine,” she muttered, thinking, I’m about to go from the fish bowl to the bathtub, but other than that, I’m spectacular. 

“What is it?” said Leo.

Mattie snapped out of her thoughts to see that she had frozen on the spot. “I don’t speak French,” she offered weakly.  
Niska threw her a look of cold contempt as she opened the van door. Mattie realised that she was growing insufferably sick of that Synth’s attitude. She had never done anything to Niska at all, and if no one else had it out with her over it soon, Mattie was going to do it herself.

Meanwhile, Leo explained, “Niska speaks French fluently, should the need arise when we find Dr. Verte. But you should be able to get by with English here.” It would have been more convincing if he didn’t look like he was being backed into a corner himself. 

Has he even seen this many people in one place before? she fretted.

But, anxiety aside, Mattie and Leo stepped out together. They would be entirely on their own for the moment. And, now that she thought about it, it would be so since the first time they’d met.

***  
Leo wanted an excuse, anything at all, to allow him to leave the gala from the moment he was let in. Instead he had to settle with Mattie being in the same boat as himself.

The lights were bright inside, the gold-and-glass chandelier a harsh beacon under which the gala guests spun and spoke using a dance of both movements and words. Leo swallowed. Having spent his youth secluded in his father’s house, with no one but his family to educate him and keep him company, had left him dramatically unprepared for this type of event. He might have seen a film or two featuring it on the television, but they’d been black and white, so therefore an unreliable example of what to expect in a contemporary event. He could have been imagining it, but there seemed to be unfavourable looks at every turn. At least toward him. Mattie was getting another kind of attention, an attention he dared not point out to her because she would likely get angry. The best thing he could do for her focus was to say nothing and be angry for her.

Mattie seemed to be calming down, though. She remarked upon the elegance of the mansion, the likely connection between the guests, and the talent of the woman singing with the band below.

Rather detached, he let her go on for a bit before she pulled his arm.

“Leo,” said Mattie. “I know this song.”

He listened, and recognised it as well. Quite well, as it was once a favourite of Fred’s.

“Hmm,” he said, smiling a little. “‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.’” It was a shame his brother was waiting in the van. He would have forgotten all about his latest musical obsession.

“Do you know the lyrics?” she asked him.

“Some,” he lied. He knew the whole song with all of his soul. Mattie wouldn’t have understood what it meant to him, though. What it made him wish he could do. “One verse, translated, means ‘With my memories, I lit up the fire. My troubles, my pleasures, I don't need them anymore.’”

They looked as much as they possibly could for Nathalie Verte within that hour, sampling wine and hors d’oeuvres along the way, but she was on neither the first or second floors. 

They asked two tuxedo-donning gentlemen if she had been seen within the recent hour, but one said she’d been outside in the garden and another said she’d been having a cigarette in ladies’ room. 

As much as they didn’t want to, Mattie and Leo would have to split up to save time. “You’re going to have to take the ladies’ room,” he told her.

Mattie blanched. “I can’t,” she said in a low voice. “If she’s smoking, I’m not going near that.”

Surprised, Leo asked, “Why not?” 

She only shook her head. How many times had he told her this was an important, no-fail acceptable task? Frustrated, he decided, “You know what? I’ll stay in here and look for her. You check the garden. Call me in thirty minutes.”

As she walked through a line of young men in standing in the hall, Leo stared after her. It wasn’t the first time tonight that he’d felt uncomfortable about them for Mattie’s sake. It also wasn’t the first time he felt something else, something different altogether.

However he tried to bury or ignore it, the thought persisted: Maybe I should have told her what seeing her tonight feels like through my eyes.  
***

The outside part of the mansion was a whole other world for Mattie. It was still littered with people – yes, lots of people – but as she walked further along she found herself alone. Alone, and able to breathe freely.

From here, she could appreciate the truly exquisite details of the mansion, and the refreshing spots of coloured petals amid the clipped emerald grass. 

What am I doing here? She wondered, resigned. She knew deep down why, though. If it hadn’t been for the Elster Synths coming into her life, she wouldn’t be on the run from Hobb. She wouldn’t be studying synth technology. Her family would be broken, instead of coming together to help them.

Was she benefited by meeting Leo Elster, or burdened by the trouble he brought with him?

From within her clutch, Mattie’s phone chimed. Leo. She sighed and put the phone up to her ear. “I couldn’t find her.”

His breathing sounded heavy, as though he were in a rush. “I did. She’ll give us ten minutes and then she has other matters to attend to. Where are you?”

Mattie looked outward. “I’m far back in the garden. No one else is out here. I can make it back but it’ll take a few -.”

“No, no need,” he interrupted. “I’m already outside, I’m closer. Just stay there.”

Mattie’s phone chimed again as soon as she ended the call from Leo. There wasn’t time, and Mattie nearly hit ignore, but stopped.

Mum.

Without thinking, she answered quickly, “Mum?”

“Matilda! Where the hell have you been?” Laura’s voice sounded ragged, strained with the stress Mattie had inflicted upon her.

“I’m fine, I can explain,” began Mattie, but was cut off by both Laura’s words and the sense of someone behind her.

“No, you’re not fine! A man came by yesterday asking questions, calling you a person of interest for three national governments!”

“Three?” Mattie’ stomach felt weak.

“You have the authorities in England, in Portugal – Mattie, are you in France?”

“France?” This isn’t happening, thought Mattie. How could Mum know? “I’m not – Mum listen -.”

“Bonsoir,” murmured a voice in her ear. The phone and clutch fell from Mattie’s hand. She whipped around, still able to hear Laura’s alarmed voice cry, “Mattie! Mattie, what’s going on?”

A pale-haired young man, in his early thirties by the look of him, was gazing at her hungrily with his watery eyes. He picked up her phone and turned it off. Then he came closer, too close, and whispered while breathing on her neck, “Je m’apelle Gerard. Are you alone?”

Drawing back, Mattie said fiercely, “Get away from me.”

Gerard smiled. “There are few ladies of your age here, none like you.”

“Then screw yourself,” Mattie spat, though her heart was racing the way the rest of her body wished it could. “I said leave me alone.”

The man pressed a finger to his lips, then placed it on hers. She flinched.

“Ah, you must share a drink with me, ma belle. You should not be alone tonight.”  
Just when he reached for her hand, another hand caught it and a low voice growled, “Ca suffit. Elle veut que vous laissiez tranquille!”

Leo released her hand and stood in front of her.

Although surprised, Gerard still sneered. “C'est la tienne?”

Leo’s face darkened. “Elle n'appartient à personne,” he snapped. “Mais elle est venue ici avec moi et vous respecterez cela. Cassez-vous!” 

Mattie had no inkling of what was said during the exchange, but the last words were certainly found offensive by Gerard. He shoved Leo, threw Mattie’s phone to the ground, then stormed off past the hedges. 

Hopefully he’ll find a fountain he could drown in, thought Mattie. She stared at Leo, the first words coming to her mind being, “You do speak French?”

“Not nearly well enough,” he admitted. “Otherwise that conversation would have needed fewer words. You all right?”

She nodded. “What was the last you said to him? He didn’t seem to like it very much.”

“Oh, that.” Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “I basically used the word you used earlier at the Moncoeurs.”

Mattie tried to smile. She was still shaken, but managed to mumble, “Thanks,” when Leo handed her back her cellphone.

He glanced at the notification on the screen as she took it back. “You called your mother?”

“She called me.” Mattie’s eyes were stinging with the memory of what was said. “She said people are looking for us. I think they know we’re in France.”

Leo made a hissing sound between his teeth. “We won’t be here long enough for them to find us,” he told her. “But you can’t talk to your mother again while we’re on the run, you understand me? Promise.”

Promise him? And when had he ever promised her anything? “The hell I will! I nearly killed her once, I won’t do it again!” Mattie shouted, wiping her eyes.

Leo grabbed her by the shoulders as she tried to run. “What are you talking about? It’s all right, Mattie. Tell me. What’s going on with you?”

Mattie nearly choked out the story as Leo listened quietly. “My mother, this was three years ago – she was diagnosed with cancer. It was in her breast, but she was recovering from the treatments well enough. Then she got sick again. This time, it was because of me. She’d been around me smoking, I did it everywhere all the time and I didn’t realise – it just made her worse. Leo, she needs a stress free environment in order to get well again, and if I can’t go home again, then she might…”

He looked at her with pain in his eyes. Leo must have been thinking about his own mother, because from what little Mattie knew of Beatrice Elster, it was clear that Leo would give nearly anything to have her back, alive and well. 

He put his hand to her ear and slowly tucked a loose strand of hair behind it. His face grew closer, and Mattie’s heart stilled, beating tightly as though it were captured in a case. In that moment, her senses became aware of everything, from the soft breeze rifling through her hair, to his breath tickling her face. She closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to touch hers.

His forehead dipped and touched hers. Leo was so close to her, she could smell the windblown grass and outdoor air he’d been walking through earlier, and the soap from Nicole’s washroom.

She waited for it. Maybe she’d always been waiting for this. But it never came. 

Leo broke the spell and slowly backed away. “We have five minutes,” he said gravely. “Let’s go.”


	5. <redirecting server route>

At first it seemed that coming all this way to see Dr. Verte was a waste of time. A slim black woman who smelled strongly like an ashtray, she was an impatient person whom Mattie felt would be useless if they really did have just five minutes to convince her of the truth.

She narrowed her eyes as Leo said quickly, "Dr. Verte, this is Matilda Hawkins. She's been in contact with Noah Amsler."

"Noah Amsler? Ah, oui. Forgive me, but this is not a conversation suitable for five minutes. We may talk on the phone tomorrow if you wish."

Mattie stepped forward. "Technically we don't need five minutes. Just five seconds." She pulled out her phone and opened her mobile email application. Mattie waited as Dr. Verte's expression became irritated.

Not good, thought Mattie, suddenly wondering whether she should have begun with what she was about to say next.

The scientist told them, "I have no time for this. What is it?"

"This," explained Mattie, "is a list of scientists who have eiither gone missing or will be missing before the week is done. It's anyone who was connected to Amsler during his project with wireless synthetic communication."

Nathalie Verte froze with shock. "The Open Pathway Project?" She whispered. "Who are you?" She glanced from Mattie to Leo, and her gaze lingered on him.

He said carefully, "Someone who doesn't want the same thing to happen to you. I know you think that they can't touch you here, but they have Interpol convinced that anyone aware of that project is a global threat, so yes, they can."

The way she looked at him was peculiarly unsettling, or so Mattie thought. Almost as though he were a ghost or an omen. Then Dr. Verte said, "What do we do?"

"We need information," Mattie told her. "Anything regarding the project, Amsler's formula, where to find the device?"

But the woman shook her head. "I haven't the entire formula. I only worked on the basic theory for it. The beginning pieces. Have you a pen?"

Leo took out a notepad and ballpoint pen from his upper pocket. Dr. Verte said, "I doubt this part will be of much use."

Mattie asked her, "How does it work?"

"It does just what the project name implies. It finds an open pathway within a Synthetic's programming code. From there a direct command may be given and accepted, overriding the original programming. And I am sorry, but I do not know where it is. You must look for Amsler himself to ask."

"He's not in Switzerland anymore," said Leo. "Do you know where we can find him?"

"Not for certain," said Dr. Verte. "If there was any clue he left behind, it would be at his residence there. My next guess, however, would be under an alias in New York."

Mattie said to him quietly, “Switzerland or New York.”

“Switzerland…well, it is closer,” answered Leo. “Maybe – it’s possible. He might still be there.”

But Mattie saw something odd in that reply. She remembered back when Toby announced he was considering skipping his commencement ceremony in favour of meeting some friends from out of town, their mother and father had pressured him to attend the ceremony anyway. Mattie had seen something odd then too, when Toby had promised in the end that he would make it for both occasions. But they waited there, and waited, scanning the crowd. In the end he’d apparently felt guilty and returned just in time, but Mattie suspected after hearing his story falter that he had had never met with any friends from out of town. Toby had become the nervous sort who hated attention, and when he was looking away as he said both could be done, she realised he’d made up all of this because he’d secretly been hoping that he could miss the pomp and circumstance.

And now Leo was looking away from her, faltering in his speech. Looking as though he had a hidden reluctance of some kind. But why?

Dr. Verte’s stares at Leo were now becoming uncomfortable for both of them. As if Mattie was not there in the conversation at all, Verte then asked him, “Have you told anyone yet?”

A confused Leo said, “I’m sorry?” 

Nathalie Verte said, “You see, I do know you. I have always known you,” and she removed a picture from her purse. Mattie leaned in. It was of a boy, a boy she recognised from seeing Leo’s digital memories. It was him, with David and Beatrice Elster. “Your father sent me pictures every year. He was…a friend.”

From the sound of it, Mattie doubted Verte’s relationship with David Elster had stayed within the boundaries of a co-worker’s friendship. 

“You must tell someone what you know,” said Dr. Verte, glancing at Mattie.   


Leo’s voice trembled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Hearing her name called, she turned around and held up a hand. "Forgive me, I shall be right back," she told Mattie and Leo. She swept toward the person calling for her attention back inside the mansion.

“What was she talking about?” demanded Mattie.

“I don’t know,” Leo muttered, clearly lying.

Mattie would not relent. “I can’t believe this. You, a liar? Giving people all kinds of shit because of your trust issues?”

A fleeting uncertainty flickered in his eyes. “I beg you, do not tell the others anything.”

“Why the bloody hell not?”

“Because I’m going to tell everyone. Tonight, when the timing is right,” he declared.  
But with her past experience, Mattie knew that a promise of “the right timing” was not a guarantee. There simply was no such thing.

“Look -,” she began to say, but Dr. Verte rushed to their side once more. 

“You must go,” she said in an unexpected urgency. “They – whoever they are – are here, looking for you. Go to my villa in Cabourg, stay the night, be gone by morning!” 

Mattie’s heart once again racing before her body could, said quickly, “Thank you!”

“Wait!” Dr. Verte said suddenly. “You must take someone with you. His name is Louis, and if anything happens to me and they find him, then it will not end well. Now, go! Out the backgate!” She waved for them to run.

***

“What took you so long?” Niska asked Leo and Mattie as they made their mad dash to the van. 

Leo gasped, “They found us!”

Alarmed, Niska said quickly, “How?” 

“Don’t know, doesn’t matter,” he said, doubling over in overexertion. Mattie helped him up and they all scrambled into the car. Niska slammed the door shut, took the wheel, and backed out of the parking lot. The car shook with the jolt of having slammed into something, but Niska didn’t stop to see what it was. Mattie had a feeling that whatever it was, it was wailing an alarm in the distance after Niska had already gotten them onto the road.

The van sped forward, and Mattie was certain of two things: either she was going to die from the impact of a crash, or else she was going to die from a heart attack. No matter how she died, it would be because of Niska’s driving.

Leo was evidently taken by surprise as well. “Nis, careful!”

Niska snapped back, “I saw a helicopter over the mansion. You be careful, shut up and don’t distract me!”

Mattie looked out the window and saw the street lamps rush by like comets in the ink-black sky. The van rocked back and forth. Max, in the passenger seat beside Niska, still had his headphones on. Incredible. What is he listening to now? thought Mattie in a daze. Paradise Lost or The Bourne Identity?

They bumped and zoomed at warp speed…until they got stuck behind a traffic light. 

Mia cried from the back, “Niska, don’t do it!”

Niska counted, “Five, four, three…”

“Nis!” Leo shouted.

“One!” Niska shouted, pulling back and striking the car behind them. Mattie dared not look back, but prayed for the sake of anyone behind and in front of them that they were well-insured. The engine revved, tires screeched, and Niska slid in between the lanes, scraping every car she drove past and ignoring the angry blares of their horns. 

“Where are we going, Leo?” Niska yelled to the seat behind her.

Leo called, “Dr. Verte instructed us to go to her villa in Cabourg! We’ll stay the night there, leave at daybreak.”

Niska sounded doubtful. “That sounds like a risk. Can we trust her?”

Mattie thought it was rich for Niska to be concerned about risks when she was currently driving off the pavement and into a field to evade the police sirens. She hoped to God they didn’t hit a cow.

It was two hours of Hell On Wheels. By the end of it, Mattie was mentally making deals to any cosmic force out there to never travel or so much as look inside another theme park brochure ever again if she survived this trip intact.

By the time Niska parked at the villa, Mattie had been shaken so numb that she barely noticed herself being pulled out of the van by Leo and Max.  
She did turn around however and look at the green van before they went inside. It looked like crunched soda can, complete with the liquid leaking from the back.  
That won’t look suspicious at all on the road to Switzerland, thought Mattie sarcastically. I’m sure no one is looking for France’s most notorious killer van.

Max and Leo propped Mattie’s arms around their necks and carried her into the villa together. At first, she was terrified to go inside because it resembled the gala mansion in Paris. But it looked more the part of a hotel than an ivory castle. There was, however, a crystal chandelier.

Once inside the master bedroom, Mattie flopped onto the king sized bed that lay invitingly inside a room the size of the Hawkins family’s downstairs floor.

“Are you all right, Mattie?” asked Max. 

Mattie groaned. “Next time I’m riding a bicycle.”

Max chuckled. “Tomorrow there will be a great deal of walking.”

“Good.”

Listening to the conversation, Leo said while removing his black jacket, “Don’t get so excited about it. The last time you were subjected to that much walking, you were probably reading The Lord of the Rings.”

Still weak, Mattie rose her head painfully from her pillow. “How would you know that?”

He shrugged and yanked off his tie, discarding it with contempt. “Just a guess.”

She smiled in spite of herself. “All right, but at least it won’t be like the film.”

“Why do you keep mentioning the films?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Less walking, more epic music trumpeting through the chase scenes.”

A pile of clothes landed her face. Niska said, “Nicole packed an extra set of clothes along with your old ones. You’re welcome.”

Despite her vow to tell Niska off the next time she was rude to Mattie, the girl rolled her eyes. It wasn’t good timing. Then she looked at Leo, understanding suddenly that whatever his secret was, he would not be sharing it with them tonight. Not the right timing for anyone, she supposed while changing her clothes in the washroom.

Upon wondering just how dire their situation was, Fred decided to turn on the television. The news reporter had footage from traffic cameras, eyewitness accounts of how damaged the automobiles were, and finally, the police report that they are looking for anyone who might have information on the van.

Max then took the remote and turned the television onto a late evening drama programme. No one really cared either way, so Mattie occasionally turned her head as a French artist emphatically professed his love for a troubled prostitute. At least, that was what it sounded like until Leo groaned, “Maxie, turn that down. There’s no way someone like Phillipe would leave her for her mother.”  
Then he opened up his laptop and said to her, “Mattie, can you run the formula Dr.Verte gave us through a decryptor?”

She blinked. “You’re letting me use your computer?” Leo’s computer was sacred to him. He only let her use it a couple times, with the rest of the times she’d asked involving him snapping at her and pulling it away.

Taking her hesitation for reluctance, he said, “Alright, I’ll do it. Just read it to me, I’ll see if I can find the decrypting program on BlueCaps.”

Mattie frowned. “What the hell is BlueCaps? What about the Headcracker site?”

Leo shot her a puzzled look. “BlueCaps is the new Headcracker. It goes under a new name to make it sound legit, but only allows access to former Headcrackers. I thought you knew.”

“No,” admitted Mattie. “I haven’t hacked in a while. Didn’t think it was a good idea to risk my scholarship by getting arrested. Load of good that did me.”

Solemnly, Leo said, “You couldn’t have known. It’s not your fault. None of it is.”

“Yeah.”

“We’re going to fix this, Mattie. I promise, whatever it takes, we’re going to get you out of it.”

There it was. He’d made Mattie a promise. And she believed he would try to keep it, with all that he had. 

But for some reason, she doubted that it would matter. A promise was never a guarantee.


	6. <authentication failure>

Mia sat on a chair in the corner, charging. It would take a two-day journey by foot to make it to Cabourg’s train station, which meant that they would be sleeping in tents again. Her family would need to reserve all of its power in order to make it. Most of her family, anyhow. 

She stared at the king-sized bed that kept Mattie and Leo a reasonable distance apart while they slept. She worried for them, for all of them, really. Fred and Niska were downstairs, vigilant in case their location had been compromised and they needed to run. Mia feared the worst, that they were not charging and therefore would be unable to last as long as she and Max after they left the van behind.

Not for the first time, her thought process was broken with the sounds of a faint cry and restless turning about within bedsheets. Leo would last longer than Niska and Fred without charging, but that did not mean Mia had no cause for concern. Ever since they had all agreed to prevent Hobb from getting his hands on the wireless synthetic controller, Leo had been acting strangely. Almost as though he were half in and half out with his commitment to their mission.

Now he was suffering from the burden of whatever he was not telling them. He’d been susceptible to nightmares ever since he was thirteen years old, but this time it seemed different. Tonight Leo was shuddering, whispering in his sleep, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” 

It broke Mia’s heart, both to see him like this and to know that there was something he felt he could not trust to share with anyone, not even herself. Especially herself.

Creak. The sound came from the hall. Mia took one last look at her beloved son, unhooked her charging cord from the port on her side, and slowly left the room. The hall was all shadows splashed with moonlight from the windows, and Mia remembered being enchanted with that kind of quiet beauty back when she had been programmed into the Hawkins’s housekeeper. 

Because she stepped so quietly she could not even hear her own feet tread across the floor, she heard the sound of another presence behind her immediately. A presence whose breathing and movements she recognised at once. Without turning around, she asked gently, “Mattie. What are you doing out of bed?”

“Couldn’t sleep. Same as you,” the young woman replied.

Mia wanted to smile at the ironic undertone, because Mattie was aware that Mia never actually slept like humans did. She slowly turned to face Mattie, and asked her point-blank, “Did he say anything to you at the gala? I cannot ease my concern that he is keeping something crucial from us.”

Mattie shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sure if that’s true he has his reasons.”

So she does know something, thought Mia. And, intrigued, she realised that Mattie was also protecting Leo’s privacy as well.

“Mattie, please. Just tell me what happened.”

Mattie shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, it was weird. First of all, Dr. Verte asked him if he’d told anyone yet. I was standing right there with them, could have been shrubbery for all they cared. Leo said  
he had no idea what she was talking about, but she pulled out a photograph of him with his mum and dad and said that she knew him.”

At least that part made sense. “Dr. Verte and David Elster were briefly involved. However, I don’t know why he would give her a picture of his family. Didn’t Leo think it was strange?”

“He seemed more worried about what else she knew about him. Mia, he did say – he promised, I think, that he would tell everyone tonight. Something must have changed his mind.”

Mia tried to think of the connection between Leo and Dr. Verte. There seemed to be one likely conclusion, but it was quite cruel to think about.

Then they both heard it. The shouts came before the scuffle, shouts Mia recognised as Niska’s. Mattie raced ahead of Mia, who followed in a graceful dash down the stairs. 

Fred was restraining someone, a stranger that was shouting, “Who are you? Where is Nathalie? I will call the authorities!”

“Wait!” said Mia suddenly, catching sight of his appearance in the pale light glowing through the windows. “Look at him.”

She approached the stranger, and he lifted his head to confirm that she wasn’t imagining things. His eyes were a vibrant green. A Synth.

“What do you want?” he snapped.

Mia could scarcely believe it. “You’re conscious,” she whispered. “Who are you?”

“My name,” he said, “is Louis Verte. Now tell me what has happened to Nathalie.”  
***

Louis was a perplexing complication for the Elsters. He wouldn’t tell them how he came into existence, although Mia couldn’t fault him for entrusting something so personal to intruders in his house.  
However, he also refused to listen to them and continued to threaten notifying the authorities. Fred had to tap the area under his chin several times to shut Louis off for safety’s sake.

Leo finally woke up and joined them, startled to see this new Synth. But he told Mia and the others that he now understood what Dr. Verte had been speaking of as she urged them to run. “She wants us to take him with us,” he said.

Mia would not argue with the moral value in this request. However, she had to consider the possible consequences that would come attached with it. “Leo, we already have ourselves to look after. How will we be able to take care of one more person without noticeable attention?”

Niska interrupted. “It’s too late to worry about one more joining the group. There will be just as much chance of our group being caught as there is now.”

“We can’t leave him here,” added Mattie. “Dr. Verte says that if he’s discovered here, he’ll be taken and destroyed.”

Hearing the mention of Nathalie, Louis said, “I will not leave her. If she is in danger, then I must stay by her side.”

“You won’t be staying by anyone’s side,” Niska reminded him. “You’ll be taken away before you’ll ever see her again.”

Then Mia told him kindly, “If you come with us, we can fix the situation and you’ll be able to see her again.”

At least, I wish it will be so, thought Mia. Louis’s expression softened at her tone. 

“Now Louis,” said Mia. “We believed we were the only conscious-aware Synthetic beings in existence. How did you come to be?”

He replied, “I was created by David Elster.”

Stepping forward, Leo’s voice shook as he said, “That’s impossible.”

“No, it is true. Nathalie was very sad, very lonely. She loved Mr. Elster with all her heart. He was going to take his child, leave his wife and his house, and elope with Nathalie. At the last minute though, he changed his mind. So he made me to fill the void in her heart.”

That was it. Mia’s suspicions were confirmed, and her mindset had swayed. Meanwhile, Leo looked crushed, ready to be sick. “Leo,” she said, going over to stand beside him. “Mattie’s right,” she told him softly. “We can’t leave him here. He’s one of us.”  
He shook his head and avoided her attempted embrace. “He is not one of us,” he said, his tone fierce. When he walked away from Mia, she realised that he was further away from her now than she’d suspected before.

My son, she thought. Where have you gone?  
***  
They left before daylight could brighten the morning sky. Mattie wondered if there would be time to sleep some more inside the van before throwing it into a ditch. No such luck, because the nearest ditch took only five minutes to find. 

As the Elsters’ removed their backpacks and tent bags from the vehicle – they must have done it many times to be so well-prepared –Mattie realised that she was glad to be getting out of that villa. She missed Nicole’s warmth, her honesty and gentleness – and the effect that anything having to do with Dr. Verte was doing Leo’s mood no favours. She suspected he would have cheered up (at least, as much cheer as was possible for him) if they hadn’t brought Louis along. Although Mattie knew it had been the right thing to do, she couldn’t help but regret being the one to mention it. Especially since  
Mia had made it sound like it was all Mattie’s idea, because now Leo was barely speaking to her. 

All right, she conceded, watching the van slide and tumble into a pit on the side of the grassy road. He’s barely spoken to anyone else as well.

So the walk began. Every now and then they would announce their charge levels as a warning. Their power was being conserved and redirected mostly to their brains, so their energy was relatively strong. 

At least, theirs was. Synths didn’t need to eat. Mattie was starving, the last thing she’d eaten having been hors d’oeuvres from the gala. And she enjoyed snails and fish eggs as much as the next person, but they had hardly been dinner. She just prayed that she wouldn’t pass out or make a noise with her stomach.

They stayed off the road, of course, but every now and then they needed their bearings. Using the Synth as a living compass could only do so much, especially when there was a train station that they intended to reach. As they went through the woods, making little conversation, Mattie knew she’d reached her breaking point. She slowed down and stumbled. “Hold on,” she muttered breathlessly. The trees were starting to blur into split lines in front of her. Never a good sign.

“We need to stop now,” Leo said, taking sight of her condition and going back to join her. He sat her down on a tree stump and said, “You know, you don’t have to act invincible all the time.”

“What can I say?” Mattie chuckled, bit delirious. “You bring out the overachiever in me.”

He shook his head, looking tired himself, and opened his backpack. The first thing he pulled out was a couple bottles of water. Then he pulled out sandwiches and some apples. He helped out the sandwiches. “I hope you like Biscoff.”

He watched her as she took a large bite. “You know,” he said, sounding a bit strained. Awkward, even. “I don’t think anyone else could have lasted this long with us.”

With her mouth full of bread and Biscoff, Mattie raised her hand. “I did say overachiever, right?”

“Yeah.”

She swallowed. “When this is over, I think I might not ever travel, camp, or possibly attend a social gathering ever again. I might become a recluse like Noah Amsler.”

Leo looked at her with a bit of sadness in his blue eyes. “No, you won’t.” Then he stood and began heading back to join the others.

Remembering Nicole’s assessment of Leo as well as Max’s report of his concern and regard for her, Mattie sat there staring after him.

Sometimes Leo Elster, she thought, you need to give more than just an apple or a dress to make a friend. You need to share yourself, as well.  
***

It was in the afternoon when Mattie caught up with Max, who had taken out his headphones and was now listening to another book. “Hello Mattie,” he smiled at her. 

He was always smiling. As though he were the other half to Leo’s coin, she thought, smiling back.

“What are you listening to?” 

Max removed his headphones so that he could speak to her. “Wicked,” he said proudly. “Have you read it, Mattie?”

Mattie hadn’t read Wicked. However, she had seen the adapted production in London with Laura. “You know any songs from the musical?”

“We have never seen a musical,” Fred said, joining them. “However, I once listened to the album.”

Intrigued, Max said, “I would very much like to hear a musical.”

Fred looked at Mattie and said, “I fear my voice is not in the range of the female vocalists.”

“Yeah, neither is mine,” she replied. But she was bored, and remembering when she’d been Sophie’s age, playing with dolls before she chose electronics, and starring promisingly as Christine in The Phantom of The Opera, gave it her best shot.

She warbled, “I’m through accepting limits, ‘cause someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, but till I try I’ll never know.” She stopped, as self-conscious as she was the day she quit theater. 

But Max said, “That is lovely Mattie. Keep going, sing louder.”

Mattie’s face turned red. “Oh, no, I can’t –“

But Fred sang, his voice rich and smooth, “Too long I’ve been afraid of, losing love I guess I’ve lost. Well if that’s love, it comes at much too high a cost!”

Incredulous, Mattie exclaimed, “I thought you said you couldn’t sing.”

Fred laughed. “I said I cannot sing like a female vocalist. And I wanted to hear you start it.”

Soon Mia joined Max and Fred in singing the chorus. Mattie couldn’t help it, she chimed in with them. “It’s time to try defying gravity! I think I’ll try defying gravity!”

Leo and Louis looked utterly detached and confused. At least they had that in common now.

Niska brushed past them. “This is going to be a very long walk,” she muttered.

“And no one’s ever going to bring us down!”


	7. <file not found>

Leo knew it was time to stop and set up camp for the night when he noticed that Mattie was no longer the only one in the group who was struggling to keep up. Even Leo himself felt slower, with his limbs beginning to ache into their very bones. It would not be a good time for him to burn out. He couldn’t let this group down.

The air was quickly cooling now, and with the sky beyond the purple hue of dusk, it would only be a matter of minutes before full darkness settled in. Since Leo lacked the eyes of a Synth, eyes that could see a bat at night before it hit him in the face, he had to set up a campfire quickly. Mia took Louis to get firewood, Niska made the pit out of rocks and dirt, and Fred handled the lighter because no one trusted Niska anywhere near a fire these days.

He still wasn’t sure how so much bitterness had gotten inside her. It was more than what he’d thought before, and went beyond a wrong he’d done her five years ago. Perhaps she could never forgive Leo for leaving her in a brothel then, and it was her firm right to feel that way anyhow. But she’d only begun exhibiting all of the manners of a tyrannosaurus within this very week. Someone needed to talk to her before she started biting off heads.

Niska was staring out into the distance, watching the stars sparkle their way into the night sky as small white points. Leo thought it best to approach the matter conversationally. Zookeepers did that all the time with tigers, don’t they? Speaking soothingly, saying something to coax it into submission, giving it a scrap of meet…oh no. That had worked in a film; the young novice who’d tried made it into the papers with a paper bag over his head to hide his scars.

“What do you see, Nis?” he asked her.

She pointed an index finger and said, “Orion. Remember when I showed you that one?”

He looked up to see the constellation, and cracked a small grin. “Oh yeah. You had those three volumes for mythology, and I kept on sneaking off with them one at a time.”

She nodded, her striking features softened in the dark. “What I never told you was that they were never actual textbooks. They were fictitious interpretations. Just regular books. I told you they were real, though.

“Why?”

She turned her head and said softly, “Because I wanted you to read them.”

A knot formed at the pit of Leo’s stomach. Did she know? He wished right then that she did know. It would be so less painful than hurting her with his silence. And for what? What was so important that  
he’d sacrifice everything to protect it?

This wasn’t what he’d come to her for. And, disinclined as he was to do it, he said in a low voice, “Can you just tell me what issues you’re having with Mattie?”

Niska made a scoffing noise behind her teeth, but Leo had no choice to pursue this conversation. “You’re different around her, that’s all. She hasn’t done anything to deserve your hostility.”  
She didn’t answer.

“Niska –.”

“I heard you,” she snapped. “Everyone else we know can go about romanticising the ridiculous, but there needs to be at least one person who sees how it will end. But by all means, better get back to her.”

Niska walked off to her tent to save the rest of her energy for the next day. But Leo walked back to the campfire in a daze.

Ridiculous? Romanticising what? His brain could barely string together any of Niska’s words into a sense of comprehensible organisation. She was likely less than sane, it was true. But no less than he was.

At the campfire, Mattie sitting down, hugging her knees to keep warm. The firelight danced over her features, causing a mesmerising effect on her appearance. In her own unassuming way, she was beautiful.

Pushing away those feelings as usual, he sighed and rummaged through his tent to find a coat and blanket for her. There was a spare blanket left in the bag, but he realised they had never thought to buy Mattie a coat.

It took him a moment to decide, but Leo then took his own spare jacket out of the tent. Mattie looked up at him in surprise as he sat down beside her and handed the items to her. 

“Thanks,” she said quietly, unfolding the blanket over her lap. But before Mattie put the jacket on, she lifted it up to her nose. He tried to pretend not to notice, but he would have challenged anyone not to react when a girl sniffed their clothes.

“This is yours,” she said.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Don’t be. It smells like grass.”

Grass wasn’t bad. At least, Leo didn’t think it was that bad.

Then Mattie sighed. “Can I ask you…if you remember everything, do you remember all of your dreams too?”

Leo stared at the embers that were dimming in the pit. “Every last one.”

But he couldn’t say what he really wanted to, how tired he, how guilt was inescapable in his sleep. How he’d really rather just dream about the nice things. 

Unfortunately, Leo was unfamiliar with nice things.

Mattie ventured, “Then…what do you dream about?”

Giving the tiniest of wry smiles, Leo said in a low voice, “Oh…cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels.” 

She raised her eyebrows. “Sound of Music?”

“Yeah, I figured you were in the musical mood,” said Leo, referring to Mattie’s attempt to “defy gravity” earlier.

Then Mattie laughed. As she did so, the flames in front of them brightened. He wanted to laugh as well, but he was too worn to do so tonight. Eventually Mattie judged it to be best to retire to her tent.

But before she walked away, she asked with some hesitation, “Are you all right?”

Leo didn’t even have time to register her question before Mattie answered herself. “I mean, forget it. You’re fine, right? Good.” 

Leo said, “Mattie?” She turned her head, and Leo waited for a moment . 

“Thank you.”  
Mattie, stiff with awkward tension, gave him a short nod before walking away.

That night, resting before the fire, Leo did dream. He saw himself at their camp at the beginning of it, only this time the flames were growing larger and larger, until he couldn’t see anything but the blazing fire. He turned around to run…and found himself face to face with David Elster. Elster kept an impassive stare as his son remained frozen in horror. “I can explain,” Leo started. His father held up a hand. “You failed. You have failed everyone.” And with a callous shove from him, Leo fell backward into the fire. And then the fire turned pitch black and enveloped him. 

Leo awakened gasping to the smell of burnt wood and smoke. When Mattie had asked him if he dreamed, he’d lied again. He had a nightmare, a nightmare every night and every day. That had become his life.

A chronic, cycling, guilt-driven nightmare had somehow become his life.

***

Out of every ordeal she’d been through so far, Mattie hated being hungry the most. When Leo told them grimly that they were out of provisions and nearly out of money, she thought she might have a panic attack. She was filled to the brim with complaints that she refused to share. A girl had to have some pride, after all. The day entire day would once again be walking, walking, eat the last of the apples, and more walking. By the end of this holiday, she was going to need at least three kinds of physical therapy.

Leo led the way, contending with Niska for the Emo-Bitch of the Day Award. Whenever he wasn’t sullenly looking at Mia and Louis, who were walking in the back of the group with smiles on their faces, he played apathetic to everyone’s hardships. Mattie pitied poor Max; the batteries in his audiobook player died and his favourite brother didn’t even care.

It was close contest, but Mattie still dubbed Niska the winner on account of Leo having zombie eyeshadows evidence to support his excuse of tiredness. 

Yet, in spite of his previous assurance that she needn’t impress anyone with her physical and mental tolerance, Mattie still didn’t dare bring up how her legs were cramping today. 

Well, Leo, don’t mind me, she thought irritably. I’ll just let my legs fall down like the London Bridge if that’s alright with you.

Because of the pain, she didn’t even notice Leo when he said, “Now we barely have enough to purchase train tickets. I’ll order them, Mattie and I will get on, and the rest of you will just be transported as ordinary Synths.”

Wait, they were at the station already? 

“I’ll get on as well,” Niska announced, her tone hard and stubborn.

“Absolutely not,” said Leo shortly. “Your face has been in the news. You’re the Killer Synth, Niska. The answer is no.”

“That was five years ago. I’m old news now, especially since I’m not the most recent killer synth people are talking about anymore. Besides,” she pointed out, “I should be able to give us a proper cover story, and you’re a terrible liar.”

Leo blanched. Mattie exchanged concerned glances with Mia, wondering how it was possible Niska did not notice it.  
“Right,” he said at last. “Mattie, go with her. Make sure she doesn’t offend anyone.”

Too late for that, thought Mattie. But she followed Niska anyhow, allowing the Synth to purposely ignore her and address the man behind the ticket counter. She began to order them in another language – German! The most exciting thing to happen to Mattie all day, for unlike French, it was a language she actually understood and was happy to hear…until the ticket seller asked Niska about anything else they can check in for her besides the Syths. Niska smiled and gestured towards Mattie, “Ja bitte. Ich- ich meine wir- wollen unser überschüssig Gepäck loswerden.”

What? Oh, I’m the spare luggage, is that it, a voice in her head said hotly.

Without thinking, Mattie stepped forward and said quickly to the ticket seller, “Schon okay, das einzige überschüssige Gepäck das wir hier nicht brauchen ist die ganze Scheiße die unsere Kampfbarbie hier verzapft!”

It's fine, the only luggage we don't need is the crap that our frightening blonde keeps giving out.

However, instead of feeling better after the tickets were in Niska’s hand, Mattie fleetingly wondered whether she would live longer if she met Hobb’s team. But she’d finally stood her ground, and it was time to brace herself for the consequences.

“You know,” she said, “it doesn’t have to be this way between us.”

Niska glared at her. “You already have enough of us that think you’re special. But you’re not. You’re overrated.”

This stung Mattie close to tears. Niska’s opinion is irrelevant, she told herself. “But it would be hell of a lot bloody easier if you could do what you were built for and actually feel for others beside yourself!”

Niska’s eyes darted from one side to the other in warning that other ears might be listening. Then she said with a knife-sharp edge in her tone, “You don’t know what I was built for.”

***

“What was Niska built for?” Mattie asked Leo once they were on the train. He was sitting by her right side, staring out the window and brooding like a Batman that hadn’t shaved for two days. He didn’t answer right away; not wanting to ask again, she looked down at her phone for the seventh time since she’d pulled it out. Dead again. Her family probably thought she was dead as well.

Mia and the others were checked in with the luggage department. Meanwhile, Niska was making herself scarce and found a seat as far away from them as was reasonably possible.

“She was always the educator of the family,” said Leo, breaking into her thoughts. “Taught me my languages, helped me with my science projects –that is, before I was the science project. Why do you ask?”

“No reason. Just trying to gather why she hates me, that’s all,” she mumbled.

He leaned forward and looked at Mattie thoughtfully. Most of the people she knew would have either politely denied the problem, or otherwise gotten a blunt response. She was grateful she was talking to Leo right now; he did neither.

“Niska has been on her own for much longer than the rest of us, and that builds a sort of hardness to her personality,” he explained. “She isn’t particularly fond of humans, but don’t take it too personally. She hasn’t been particularly fond of me either for these past five years.”

“But she came back,” interjected Mattie.

“Because she’s family, and she protects her own. Believe me on this, though – she would never harm you. Because in one way you are two are similar.”

Bristling at this comment, Mattie turned to look out the fields flying past the train. How long would the view stay that way? “How are we similar?” she finally asked.

“You both care about what’s right.”

Mattie couldn't see it. But then again, Leo knew Niska better than she did. And, she realised, somtimes he seemed to know Mattie better than Mattie did. This revelation both scared and enthralled her. 

God, Leo, What have you done to me?


	8. <troubleshooting>

“Do you feel whole?”

Mia gave Louis a slight frown at the question. If the café had been any louder, she would have considered the possibility that she was mishearing him. But ambient interference usually did not cause a hiccup within her communication processor. And since they were not exactly at a Nightwish concert, even that chance was ruled out. 

“I’m afraid I don’t understand your question,” said Mia, disliking herself instantly for saying it. She was no longer inside the Anita persona that was created to serve people like the Hawkins family; unfortunately, Anita was very much still inside her, and would be so forever.

Louis clarified. “I mean that you are a mother. You devote yourself to caring for your family. Who cares for you?”

Well, Mia certainly did not care for the direction in which this was headed. And she and Louie had been getting along so well. Dismayed by the ruined moment, she told him, “Louis…I don’t think you’ve known my family long enough to say something like this.”

Her sight drifted and instantly landed on Leo. He was sitting with Mattie two tables away, charging his computer. He has to charge himself at some point as well, a thought inside her fretted. She longed for the boy that had needed for her to tuck him in at night and crawl into her lap when he was afraid of the dark, the boy who had grown into a man that cared so little for himself as compared to the rest of them.

No, Louis’s implication couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Still, even for a conscious Synth, he spoke with surprising perceptiveness. She had grown fond of him, regardless of his opinions. Regardless of the troubling glances Leo gave them every time they exchanged words.

If he'd only talk to me, I would be happy to reassure him that no one could ever take his place, she wanted to say aloud, to Louis – to anyone – in hopes that her son would hear it and feel reassured.

“Ah, Mia,” sighed Louis, turning his sandy brown head to look at Leo. “You have an identity of your own, and you’ll need it for the day that he no longer needs you.”

Mia unhooked her charging cord and rose from the table. “He will always need me,” she told Louis.  
***  
Mattie was a genius.

It was prideful to feel that way, she knew that. But after being cruelly assessed by Niska, Mattie felt she deserved to have a moment of elevated egotism.

Geneva was an active city, filled with houses that boasted sophistication from the exterior. There was also little chance of finding someone who was willing to give them refuge for the evening, even if Fred managed to save an entire nursery full of babies this time.

After finally leaving the café, Mattie noticed Leo was staring up at the grey-veiled sky. 

“What is it?” she asked.

“Rain,” he said grimly. “Lots of it, tonight.”

Overhearing this, Max and the other Synths gathered round Leo and asked for the next course of action. He just stood there, chewing skin from his lip, and the truth occurred to Mattie.

He has no idea of what to do next.

“I have an idea,” she announced, hoping against hope that it would not be contested. “I’ve actually been thinking it for some time. We can go to Noah Amsler’s house.”

She gauged the reactions. All eyes on her but no response was offered. Had she overlooked a complication before suggesting it?

At last, Fred reminded her, “Noah Amsler is no longer at his house, Mattie.”

She could have sighed with relief. That wasn’t a complication at all. “Right. Noah Amsler isn’t at his house. His house is empty.”

A handful of humanoid supercomputers, and they don’t recognise a brilliant opportunity when it falls into their laps, thought Mattie. Oh well, they can always go hide in the mountains with a Saint Bernard as their guard dog.

But when they all looked to Leo, he finally seemed to get it. “So we’ll check out the place, see if we can use it for the night. Come on, let’s get there before the storm does.”

He gave Mattie a look, and having slowly become better at reading his thoughts through facial expressions, nodded in response.

You’re welcome.

Amsler’s house was of a modest size, although one could tell by the clean white paint job and extended balcony alone that it had belonged to a moneyed individual who just wanted to be left alone.  
It was a good thing they decided to knock first, because breaking into house occupied by a large old man in a short bathrobe would have been awkward. 

“Can I help you?” he inquired, blinking at the sight before him. Mattie supposed five synths and two (well, one and a half, really) humans altogether at the same time must have created a questionable picture. Or perhaps he was merely squinting because he’d lost his eyeglasses.

“Are you Dr. Amsler?” Leo asked, his tone uncertain.

“What? Oh, you mean Noah!” said the man. “No, no. I am his property’s caretaker. What can I do for you?”

Niska stepped forward. “You can tell us where Dr. Amsler went,” she demanded. 

Mattie winced. Someone please remove the iceberg from her ass already. She sorely missed Sophie right then. Sophie turned rocks into marshmallows. She would likely become England’s first Disney princess.

The caretaker cleared his throat. “I have no idea where Dr. Amsler is. Who are all of you?”

Before anyone could introduce themselves, Mattie said, “My name is Mattie Hawkins. Dr. Amsler wrote me, he was expecting my response before he took off.”

Not exactly, but it was the closest truth that a lie could meet.

“Hmm. Mattie, is it?” said the caretaker. “Well, I’m sorry, but there’s only one person by whom Dr. Amsler will allow to be contacted. And you are not that person.”

“Please,” spoke out Leo, his voice quaking. “It’s about the Open Pathway Project. It’s been compromised.”

A clouded look passed over the man’s face. Suddenly he was no longer an elderly bloke in a little dressing gown, but a crucial piece to the puzzle they’d so far had no luck in solving.

He said, “You’ll have ten minutes to convince me before I call the authorities.”

Remembering the experience with Dr. Verte, Mattie said aloud, “All we need is five.”  
***  
Sometimes, whenever she found it difficult to love anything at all, Niska would pull up a memory in her mind: Leo, twelve years old and in total admiration of her. As a child, he had been uncertain about the world. He’d ask Niska question after question, but his interests did not extend to his schooling. He would play before he studied, and when he studied it had been a struggle to wrench him away from the games on his computer. Niska was able to recall it with fondness since it was now at a safe distance from the present, but those had been the days that tried her patience. Yet as he grew older and more responsible, he’d become more than her brother. He was her best friend. She taught him football, and he taught her codebreaking techniques he’d learned online. And while Mia was the mother hen, Fred was the serious one and Max the baby of the family, Niska and Leo had commonalities that the others did not share.

And now, as hard as it was to forgive him for his past mistakes, it was even harder to watch those commonalities be shared with someone else. 

She watched as he sat on the sofa inside the house, taking turns with the Hawkins girl in recounting their journey and mission to the caretaker. Humans had such fleeting attachments. They were capable of forgetting what they loved, of outgrowing people. If Leo forged a connection with Mattie, there was a chance she could later lose those feelings and move on from him. He, on the other hand, would be permanently saddled with those feelings until the day he died.

The sounds of jingling and something with clicking footsteps distracted Niska from her concerns. A fluffy bichon frisee, barking for attention in the hall. Disinterested in the current conversation ensuing in the room, Niska left and followed the dog into the kitchen. It barked at her and wagged its tail, mouth open wide.

“What are you smiling at?” she asked it.

“Bark!”

Niska knelt down to see the name on its collar. “Canelle.” 

Canelle barked twice, evidently pleased to hear her name, then bounced up to tap Niska’s knees with her paws. 

“What?” she asked. “I’m not going to pet you. No.”

But Canelle insisted. So Niska leaned down and patted her twice on her fuzzy white fur.

Animals. David Elster had barely the time for his family, let alone entertaining the notion of owning a pet. However, thinking of Nathalie, he apparently had plenty of time to cavort. Niska hadn’t even realised before that there had been someone else he could fuck besides herself. 

She wandered about the kitchen, Canelle at her heels, wagging her tail again. Niska hushed her whines. “Shh…Go away. Go on.” The bichon went instead over to her empty food dish by the refrigerator, knocking a note from a magnet on the door. It was a small one, with loopy print reading Delta Drives. The name of Mattie’s referral from New York. Then her eyes caught the next set of words, a message in quotations. Re: Leo Elster. Call at this number.

Niska withdrew a phone from her pocket. With numb fingers, she punched in the digits left on the note.

She placed the phone to her ear and waited.

“Hello?” said a male voice.

Niska froze with shock. If she’d been human, she would have likely cried out.

“Hello?” 

Her voice remained cool as ever. “Hello, David.”


	9. <broken link>

Mr. Weiss seemed to lack any inkling of Noah Amsler’s whereabouts, but he was still remarkably accepting of the intriguing tale surrounding him. The caretaker had given Mattie and Leo white peach tea and cakes to eat because they, in his own words, looked they’d each “slept in a laundry hamper.” Mattie choked on a giggle at that remark, although Leo couldn’t see much humour in it. 

Unfortunately, during the entire conversation Weiss acted as though the idea of anyone’s Synth being susceptible to someone else’s control was less of a concern than the weather. He muttered interruptions during their tales, with the matter of the dead ambassador being tossed aside in favour of how wet Mr. Amsler’s garden would be tomorrow; meanwhile Mattie’s personal predicament was not nearly as fascinating as whether or not Weiss should put his car in the garage. Leo just wished he’d change into some actual clothes.

“So Mr. Amsler didn’t have the device with him when he left?” asked Mattie, finishing the last drop of her cup.

Weiss, who had been going about Amsler’s dog needing a litterbox for when she got scared during thunderstorms – Leo didn’t even want a clarification for that one – wrung his hands. “No, no – I believe he sent it to an assistant of his. A woman from New York.”

Leo’s stomach automatically clenched. Although he wished no one would say it, Mattie guessed it anyhow. “Delta Drives, is that it?”  
Delta Drives, thought Leo without amusement. It sounds more like a cheap motor company than a person.

Weiss added, “I’ve never met the woman, just spoken to her once or twice on the phone. But if I were interested in finding Mr. Amsler or his device – which I am not – I would call her.”

“Great, we’ll just do that then,” mumbled Leo. “How can we call her?”

Suddenly animated, Weiss said, “Oh, I can do it for you if you’d like – I have her phone number on the refrigerator. What did you say your name was?”

Niska said from the hallway, “Leo.” 

Judging by how her tone had more bite than usual in it, and Weiss’s look of recognition at him, Leo knew his time had come. His heart rate rose and plummeted erratically as 

Niska gave him a stony glare. He had to explain –

Niska did it first. “Our father is alive,” she announced to everyone in the room. “He is alive and someone here already knew that.” 

Rising on unsteady feet, he said, “It’s not what you think.” 

Niska stood as rigid as a statue, and Leo thought he could see the flare of synthetic green colour behind her blue contacts. “How long have you known? Did you find out before we started traipsing around Europe searching for Open Pathway? Tell me!”

He swallowed back the lump in his throat. “I’ve always known.”

A disbelieving Mia said behind him, “What do you mean? Why didn’t you -.”

“Because he didn’t want me to!” Leo shouted. His face grew hot as he defended himself by saying, “He faked his death with a Synthetic lookalike, and he paid off a coroner to pretend to examine it. He told me that I could let all of you know when he found a safe place for us to live.”

Niska hissed, “And then what?”

“Nothing. He never contacted me again. I swear it.” He could feel all of it, Max’s silent confusion, Mia’s hurt, Fred’s shock. Niska’s judgement. He could feel every emotion as   
though it were his own.

“Why didn’t you tell us, Leo?” Fred asked. 

“Why do you think?” he implored pleadingly. “It wasn’t worth it. He abandoned us to escape Hobb on his own. I couldn’t have us look for him, because he didn’t deserve to be found.”

“So you decided to manipulate us,” said Niska.

“No,” protested Leo.

“To control us.”

“No!” 

“And then you had us look for him anyway. Noah Amsler. You knew about that too,” she accused.

“Not at first. I suspected, I hoped it wasn’t true. But it is, and we can’t change it.”

“We can.” Niska walked over and slammed a piece of paper down on the coffee table. “You dragged us through this muck, you can go the rest of the way on your own!” Leo winced as the phone number for Delta Drives floated off the edge.

A clash of voices echoed in the sitting room. 

Mia said, “Niska, you can’t mean that.”

Meanwhile, Max stressed, “We are a family.”

At some point, Leo passed a cursory glance at Mattie. She had remained sitting down next to Mr. Weiss, unable to meet Leo’s eyes. It broke a piece of him in a way he hadn’t even expected.

Niska looked around the room. “Leave us,” she said, her tone dangerous. “I need to speak with him alone.”

No one moved until she screamed, “Get out!” 

And then they left. Each and every one of them filed out the door. 

Fred and Max were the first to leave the room. They barely looked at him as they did.

“Mum,” he said out of desperation. Mia – the person who had brought him up as her own and been the one true guarantee that for his entire life he’d be loved – shared with him a glance of her devastation and disappointment.

He died a little bit more each time someone walked out the door. Weiss and Mattie were the last to leave, and what finally struck him deeply was Mattie stopping at the door.

“No,” she said. 

At that moment, the tiniest of lights pricked through Leo’s darkness. He should have known Mattie would be defiant. He wished then that he could have been stronger and more defiant as well. 

Then he took one glance at Niska and realised that this was not a good time for Mattie to be a rebel. 

It pained him to do it, but Leo said to Mattie, “Go on. It’s okay. It’ll be fine.”

Dr. Weiss pulled Mattie out of the room, and the darkness returned.

He waited. Stared at his sister, the one he’d damaged and turned into someone he barely knew.

“You’re a liar,” she said. 

He said nothing, just took it in the hope that it would be over quickly. 

“Did it ever occur to you that you weren’t the only one David hurt? That maybe there are far worse forms of abuse than neglect? Did you?”

“What do you want me to say, Niska? I am sorry, and if I could do it all again I would tell you everything.” He wished he didn’t sound so weary, so pathetic and guilty.

She wasn’t done. “The only thing you are sorry for is yourself. Your need to control, to remain dependent on others.”

It was like a hot slap in the face. He felt the blood rush to his cheeks as he snapped, “Oh, so I’m the only one with the problem? Niska, have you ever thought about the things you’ve done? The things you do every single day! I may have lied and used unorthodox means to get us here, but at least I never killed anyone!”

She was standing very close to him. It didn’t occur to him how closely until he felt a hard blow to his cheek. Leo staggered, more in shock than in pain.

“You killed me,” she whispered. And he watched the last of his family walk away.

“Please…don’t do this,” he begged.

Unmoved, Niska said, “David Elster is not my father. And you are not my brother.”  
***

The thunder had come at last, followed by needle-thin rain drops. Leo sat on the balcony, Niska’s words now forever locked in his head. 

He wondered where all of them were now. Whether any of them would come back. But why would they? He wouldn’t have. 

Weiss had allowed him to stay one night here, and Leo wasn’t sure whether it was out of compassion or because he liked having someone around with whom he could talk about the weather. In any case, he’d earned himself a room all to himself. Leo couldn’t remember the last time that happened.

It wasn’t the first time he’d considered making death a more permanent option for himself. But as Leo sat there, feeling like a heavy anchor was tearing him downward, he felt   
like it might be the last.

What else did he have left to lose?  
***

With careful footsteps, Mattie came inside Amsler’s – Mr. Elster’s - spare bedroom, and saw Leo there on the balcony. A light shower of rain had begun to fall, and his black hair was getting damp.

He heard her and turned, but then looked away again.

“So,” she said softly. “You’re a liar.”

He didn’t respond.

Way to go, Hawkins, she told herself. Great way to comfort him. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“They’re all gone?” He sounded so dejected, and the worst part was that she’d left him alone with Niska earlier. If only he’d had someone on his side earlier.

She couldn’t see quite see why what he’d done deserved abandonment by his whole family. He’d lied, but his intentions had not meant to do any harm.

“They’ll forgive you and come back.”

“Niska won’t.”

Mattie was helpless in assuring otherwise for that one. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

“I’ve lost them,” said Leo. “I’ve lost everyone.”

“Not everyone,” Mattie corrected softly.

He stared at her then, either in wonder or confusion. Mattie couldn’t tell.

“Come on,” she said, feeling the raindrops tickling her hair and her skin. “We’d better go inside now before the rain gets worse.”

Leo stood to follow her, then hesitated. “I just can’t figure it out.”

She frowned at him. “Figure out what?”

“You,”he said. “My life is a broken mirror, bringing down myself and anyone who stays around me. And you’re still here. You should be home, taking care of your mother. Being with your family.”

What was she supposed to say to that? I feel like you are a part of my family? She didn’t know if he’d reject that confession or laugh at her.

Almost as though he were psychic, Leo stifled a cough that she’d come to know was his version of a laugh. When his expression turned grave once more, Mattie asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing…it’s stupid.”

“Well, I could use a little stupid right about now,” she coaxed.

He deliberated. “I was just thinking. That I should have kissed you in Paris.”

He should have kissed her in Paris. It was as though her brain had switched itself onto déjà vu, and that surreal feeling of this strange and wonderful thing happening had been there all along.“That would have been a bit cliché, don’t you think?” she said at last.

“Why?”

“Never mind. So why didn’t you? ”

His words stumbled. “Ahhh…I don’t. I mean, I can’t –.”

He’d never kissed anyone before. 

Mattie went up to him and looked into his eyes. They blinked and shifted directions so that they wouldn’t have to focus on her. “You can if you want,” she said, her tone gentle.

But he shook his head. He was afraid, and she had to show him how not to be.

Mattie thought for a moment, and said, “Here, give me your hands.”

Numbly, he slipped his warm, wet hands into hers. She folded them together, with a tentativeness that surprised even her.

“What is this?” asked Leo.

“Practice.” She lifted up their hands and said, “Practice on my hands.”

His eyebrows knit together, but he obeyed. She felt his lips quickly brush two fingers, and he raised his head.

She sighed. “Slowly this time. Like this,” and she knelt down and stroked the back of his hand with the front of her mouth.

“Ah,” he said, still nervous. He lowered his head, and slowly his lips made their way toward her wrist.

“Collarbone,” she instructed quietly.

If he was uncertain, he didn’t show it this time. He pressed his mouth against the soft skin above her chest, and her breath automatically responded. Catching on to the lesson, 

Leo moved his way up her neck without prompting. She lifted her throat, and the tip of his tongue tickled it as his lips massaged their way up to the side of her chin. 

Then his mouth pushed against hers, and she was lost. She wanted to stay lost. They continued for another minute, until he pulled away.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

She pushed her hand against his chest. “Will you trust me?”

He swallowed and nodded.

Then, with tender care not to touch the hole in his lower side - the one that held all the wires he needed to survive – she ran her fingers slowly under his shirt. Feeling his ribs, his chest, until she slipped his shirt back over his head. She let it fall to the ground.

Mattie’s fingers shook as she unbuttoned her own blouse. Now I’m nervous too, she thought. But once they had stripped of their clothes, things seemed to pick up at a more natural pace. She pushed him gently back down on the bed, and as she kissed behind his ear and felt his neck make a small arc in response, she said in a soothing tone, “We can stop if you’d like?”

He shook his head on the pillow. “Just tell me what to do,” he replied, hushed.

She smiled. That was why he meant to her as much as he did. Once he cared for something, he was in it all the way.

She wrapped her legs around his and put his flesh in hers. They both gasped a little at this new feeling. Mattie had to remind herself that it had been awhile since she’d done this, and she couldn’t be as adventurous as she was before because this was Leo. This was about Leo. She planted her lips on his mouth again and began to rise up and down, flexing her muscles in and out. 

Leo made a faint whistling sound, like that of a puppy pleading for affection. Mattie would give him that affection –

“Ough –.” She gasped, as he began to respond to her movements at last. Their bodies came closer together, then closer than that. They breathed each other’s air, they were each other’s air... 

Mattie’s heart pounded, and another pounding erupted outside of the bedroom

The rain had been fully released at last.


	10. <system restore>

The most frustrating part about having resigned from the art of hacking, Mattie decided, was returning to it a few years later only to find stronger firewalls, alterations of already complicated coding, and the requirement of more advanced techniques. In short, everything had changed. And now, sitting on the downstairs floor, Mattie resorted to humiliating tactics.

From the sofa, Leo looked over Mattie’s shoulder as she used his laptop and asked, “Are you actually Googling how to hack a cellphone?”

She ignored the mild incredulity in his tone. “Don’t judge. It’s how I started out as a Headcracker in the first place.” She whipped around and smiled sardonically. “Actually, it’s how a lot of people who weren’t raised by robots start out.”

He rolled his eyes and clapped his hand to his forehead, heaving a sigh. “And why, might I ask, are you looking to hack a cellphone?”

Mattie didn’t answer until she’d read the instructions in the BlueCaps forums five times. “I just forgot how to, that’s all. Might come in handy in case either of us gets separated.”

He groaned a little, still tired after last night. Mattie closed his computer and sunk into the cushion next to him. “We haven’t really talked,” she said, feeling stupidly insecure.

Leo straightened his back on the sofa. “You have questions,” he surmised.

Her cheeks were warm. “I just wanted to know if it was…okay. If you’re okay.”

The side of Leo’s mouth quirked and he said, “I’m fine. And…last night wasn’t what either of us expected, I think.”

“Oh.” She looked down. The hands that had taught him how to kiss now they felt like failing students.

Leo must have sensed her disappointment, though, because he said softly, “It’s not as though I like you only because I enjoyed the sex, Mattie. I only enjoyed it because I like you.”

It was amazing, how he could cut her with the first half of a sentence and with the second half make her whole again. However, a part of her still remained slightly underwhelmed. Only liked her?

He was watching her with tentativeness in his eyes, waiting to see if she was offended.

“I’ll take it,” she said. They exchanged the shyest of smiles, and Mattie leaned to his side as he shifted his arm to hold her close. 

This is something new, she thought in amazement. Resting together on the couch, Mattie and Leo didn’t speak for the next twenty minutes; at least not vocally. Their quiet breathing in unison said more than their own vocabulary at that point. Finally, Mattie murmured against his chest, “You’re thinking about them.”

“Always,” he whispered.

“They’re still in Geneva, though,” she told him, staring at a vase of dried roses on the coffee table. She knew as well as he did that a group of Synthetics with no human users and no money to pay for passage would be hard-pressed for ways to leave the country.

“They don’t want to be found. I can’t force them to come back, not after what I did.”

Mattie tilted her face toward him. “Was he that bad? Your dad, I mean.”

He wrapped his right arm around her more firmly, as though he was determined to not let her leave him as well. “He wasn’t good or bad, really. My father wasn’t very attached to anything that he couldn’t work on. He was concerned for my mother’s health, but looking back now I suspect it was more of a distraction for him. When he brought me back to life I thought that things would be different for us now. But I was alive again, no longer a part of his work. So everything I ever learned about family, about love and loyalty, came from Mia. Fred. Max – ” He bit his lip and held back from saying Niska’s name. 

His face contorted in agony, and in Mattie’s heart she felt that pain. She had been without her family for more than a week, and Leo was now facing the likelihood of facing the rest of his life alone.

‘Why did he give me that list?” she wondered aloud.

Leo shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think I ever even really knew him. Mattie, every time I open a new door, another secret comes falling out. Those secrets hurt people, put them in danger. I’m sorry I put you in danger.”

Mattie sat back up again, allowing Leo to see the compassion in her eyes, and shrugged half-heartedly. “Well. Things were getting a bit boring for me anyway.”

“Young people!” Mr. Weiss boomed as he walked in through the front door carrying a pastry box. “Did anyone walk Canelle while I was out?” 

Mattie exchanged a confused glance with Leo, who said to Weiss, “You didn’t ask anyone to walk Canelle.”

The old man scoffed. “Well, someone will do it, otherwise I’ll be having a very large breakfast this morning.”

Leo made a move to get up, but Mattie saw an opportunity. Rising quickly, she volunteered, “It’s okay, I’ll do it. I could use some fresh air.”

She arranged a pleasant-yet-apologetic expression on her face for Leo, then told him sternly, “There had better be at least one jelly doughnut left when I get back.”

As he summoned Canelle, Mr. Weiss handed Mattie a leash. “Thirty minutes. Parks, not streets. And do remember that as soon as you return, it will be time for the both of you to leave.”

She nodded, her back rigid with determination. Once she was leashed, Canelle’s little white paws pranced on the floor in anticipation as she made happy barks, and Mattie followed her to the door. 

Mattie spared one final look at Leo. “See you,” was all she said.

“Right.” The pain had not left his eyes. He was still afraid of being left on his own.

Don’t worry Leo, her heart vowed as she swung the door shut behind her. When I get back, you won’t have to worry about being alone. I promise.  
***

The apartment had only one bedroom. It was essentially one giant bed, extending its faded blue linens and fringed skirt to seven feet from the door. Its owner was young, freshly graduated and eager to show he was worth an emotional investment. 

“I got the damn television set to work,” he said, looking into the bedroom. “I have a couple favourite programmes on right now, you can help me choose. Or I have this DVD, The Notebook. Anna?”  
The last time she’d deliberately attracted a man’s attention for an invitation to spend the night with hem, she’d suspected him of being a disgusting cheat and nearly stabbed him in the back for it, in quite the literal sense. This time, however, it was more of a pajama party, and Niska thought she might stab this man if he subjected her to The Notebook. He’d obviously bought it for female appeal, meaning he might very well have been ready and willing for sex with anything in a bra.

“Anna –.”

“If there is a football game airing, we’ll watch that. If there isn’t, fuck me and get it over with,” snapped Niska.

Alec staggered backward, a reaction reminding Niska of another striking blow she’d delivered last night. For that one, she could still remember the feel the heat of another person’s face, the contact of his skin and bone with her hand. It played more than any other horrible memory in her mind ever had before, and that one was among over a hundred horrible memories.  
Then, a distraction came in the form of a loud knock on the door. Niska remained on the bed, as tense as the coils of the mattress upon which she sat. Alec went to answer the door, leaving Niska to survey the room for a makeshift weapon. But what was she going to use? A wire hanger perhaps?

“Excuse me,” said the voice that he’d gone to greet. “I was looking for a friend of mine, was told she’d have come this way. Is she still here, by any chance?”  
That voice! Familiar, female, loathed beyond reason. Niska leapt to her feet and stormed out as Alec told her in a somewhat relieved-sounding voice, “Oh, thank G –I mean, yeah, I think so. Blonde, blue eyes – .”

“Violent,” Niska finished. The glare she gave Mattie Hawkins was harsh enough to crack cement, but the girl held her ground in defiance. Alec, however, was as strong as the plaster in the walls behind him.

“Alec, why don’t you leave for a while and find us another film to watch today.”

The young man gulped. “Yeah right. Don’t – don’t go anywhere,” he stammered, much to her satisfaction. He’d be gone for at least the rest of the morning.

There was a squeal at Mattie’s feet as Alec hurried past them. “What are you doing here?” 

“Oh you know,” said Mattie, pulling a leash closer to the threshold. “Just walking a dog.”

Canelle yipped at the sight Niska, who frowned at the obvious question to ask. “How did you find me?”

“There’s a mobile tracking chip inside your phone.” 

She sounded quite proud of herself. Niska strode to the nearest trash receptacle and threw her phone in there with contempt. Mattie took the opportunity to enter the apartment and close the door. 

Niska fumed. How much do I have to say in order to get this girl to take a hint?

Mattie didn’t wait for Niska to ask what she was doing there. She said, “Look, I’m not an idiot. You want to bloody me with words to fuck up my self-esteem, that’s fine. I don’t want to be here, but this isn’t for me.”

The coiled tension in Niska’s system retracted slightly, but she still said, “He hardly needs me around. Not when you’re in a perfect positon to do the same thing to his self-esteem.”

Mattie folded her arms. “I won’t do that.”

“Why? Because you’re not me, is that what you think?”

“He made a mistake, Niska. Get over your goddamn self and forgive him.”

Canelle barked in accordance, smiling as ever. Niska wouldn’t allow herself to pay the dog a second glance.

“You don’t know anything about us,” she told Mattie. “Leo has been more than just dishonest to his entire family.”

Mattie scowled, finally angry. Niska thought she could work with that until Mattie said, “And he punishes himself enough for it! If you could see things for what they are, you’d realise Leo hates himself more than you ever could.” 

Niska blinked as an automatic response. She couldn’t let this little bitch put her on the defensive. But Mattie Hawkins seized the moment of hesitation to say in a low voice, “You want to know why I’m doing this, Niska?” She said the name like she was biting a bullet. In spite of herself, Niska waited. Mattie continued, “I had this friend in school. His name was Harun. The usual sort, you know. Sweet, lonely, had an ego about the size of a grain of salt. His parents didn’t like him all that much, so they ignored him most of the time unless his dad felt like encouraging his son’s uselessness. He was willing to open himself up to anyone that showed him a fraction of kindness.” Mattie’s voice trembled with a bit of emotion and paused, leaving Niska to wonder where on earth she was going with this anecdote. “When we graduated and I moved onto university, I think I only called him once or twice. Chatted with him through texts and online for about a month. You know, little things. Then life distracted me for a bit, and it took about half a year to realise that we hadn’t spoken at all during that time. I decided to surprise him on Christmas and contact him. He didn’t answer his calls. He wasn’t online. I went over to his parents’ house and asked him where he was.” Mattie blinked, a single tear falling down her cheek. Niska remained motionless, coiled this time with cold apprehension.

“I found out he’d hung himself in their basement. He was dead, and it was my fault because I forgot because I felt that I didn’t really need him anymore. But he still needed me.”  
The walls around Niska’s artificial heart began to crack like plaster. “Why are you telling me this?” she asked.

The look Mattie gave Niska was hard. “Because when I went to check in on him, I saw something. I saw Harun. Now you tell me, Niska, is your grievance against Leo worth his life? Because I’m not enough. I can’t promise I’ll always be there, even though I want to. And I know that synths can’t help but remember the good memories for just as long as the bad ones. And even if you feel like you don’t need him, he still needs you. I came here because I want to know if you still care.”

Niska looked down at Canelle. The dog was wagging her tail, whimpering. It was the sound of its faint pitch that brought to mind a little boy who made a similar noise every time he saw his mother being restrained during one of her screaming fits. The same boy whose death had caused the first time she ever had felt anger toward herself because she could not shed tears and release her grief.

It was that boy whom she’d wanted more than anything to save.


	11. <recovering host identity>

Leo felt like he would have been doing a lot better if Mr. Weiss weren’t continuing to reiterate how Mattie should have been back with Canelle an hour ago. However, the thing that finally did it for him was Weiss attempting to call in to report a dognapping. 

“Are you insane?” he shouted. “There are people out there that want to kill us and you’re throwing Mattie in their direction because she’s behind schedule? For all we know she could be running from them as we speak.”

Weiss, ever the altruist, snapped, “I’ll tell you something, boy. You and your lot have completely overtaken my life for the past twenty-four hours! Now, I’ve listened to your stories, to your personal drama, and to all of the maudlin pillow talk going on between you and that Marnie girl. And God help you, if I ever have to see the face of that psychotic  
blonde one again -.”

A rattling sound from the door cut off Weiss’s threat. Leo, whose face was flushed from the argument, raced the old man into the sitting room in time to see Mattie come in with Canelle. 

“Are you all right?” he asked Mattie. “What happened?”

“Sorry,” said Mattie. “It was a pretty far walk to pick someone up.”

At first Leo thought he hadn’t heard her correctly. And then he thought he was seeing things as well: a pale blonde figure following Mattie into the house. He only knew it was real when Weiss gave a cry of terror. “You can’t be here! This is what I was talking about earlier,” he ranted. “All of you taking advantage of my hospitality!”  
Ignoring him, Niska stepped into view. With neutrality surfacing in her countenance, she looked at Leo, who could only stare back with all the noise in the room – Weiss’s tantrum, Mattie’s explanation – muting as though he were underwater. The only ones left in the room were Leo and Niska, and it was too impossible to be real.

The doubt, the pain. The intensity, the reserve. As beautiful as polished marble, Niska’s face revealed so little and yet there was also so much to see in it. Leo regretted having fallen out of the practice of studying it.  
While he was dealing with the shock of her presence, he heard Niska said to Mattie, “We need a moment alone.”

A moment alone. Another moment that could be filled with hits and vitriol. Leo could barely move or breathe, let alone interject. Mr.Weiss did it for him. “Absolutely not! I can’t have any more raised voices in here,” he yelled. “The neighbours will notice.”  
Meanwhile, Mattie looked at Leo in concern and told Niska, “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“It’s all right. Just one more time.” There was something soft in her voice that Leo had become unfamiliar with lately. Those words came from the person who’d taught him his letters. The person who’d walk with him outside and identify the types of leaves he found on the ground. The one who had tricked him into reading fantasy novels by telling him that he was studying with actual textbooks.

Because I wanted you to read them, she’d said.

Mattie convinced Mr. Weiss to give Leo and Niska a minute, so they took Canelle into the kitchen.

Unlike the last time he and Niska were left alone in a room together, Leo was uncertain what to expect. He merely stood there, in silence, too afraid to hope for anything but to come out unscathed.

Niska walked, taking slow steps all the way to Leo. She raised her hand up, and he automatically flinched as one of her fingers brushed the side of his face.

What was she doing?

“Leo, I need to tell you something.”

You already did tell me something, his heart protested. He swallowed back his words.

“David wasn’t…he’s not what you think he is.”

Leo’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “What is it? I already know he was a terrible father,” he said slowly. “I tried to tell you all last night, that was why I didn’t want anyone to know he was involved in this.”

Niska’s gaze was direct and unnerving, a hollow knot forming in her speech. “You have no idea how terrible. He is a monster.”

“Niska –.”

“He used me,” she interrupted. Leo’s blood turned cold at her words as she continued. “The way I was used in the brothel. Only it was worse because I didn’t understand the way a father was meant to treat his children. When it began, I thought I was special. I thought because I was the only one, that it meant he liked me better. But he didn’t like me. He didn’t like me at all…”

Leo lowered his shoulders and opened his arms uncertainly. Niska walked into them, and he wrapped around her, firm but gently.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“So am I.”

For humans, sometimes when a piece of something went missing for such a long period time, it was deemed lost forever and life had to move on without it until it was forgotten.

For Synths, the void the piece had left behind would be remembered every day.

And for Leo, who’d been forced into a tolerance for the ache of losing Niska, it was only realised after five years that he’d been missing the piece of himself that had been strong. 

With Niska’s arms around him now, resting the back of her head against his neck, Leo felt ready, for the first time in his life, to fight for more than his family. He was ready to fight for his own desires. He was ready to live.

Then his joyful gaze caught sight of Mattie in the sitting room, looking like the blood had drained from her face. He released Niska abruptly and made his way toward Mattie as she began to quake.

“Mattie? Mattie, what’s wrong?”

Mattie raised her hand to show him her cellphone. It was connected to an unknown caller. “We have to give him what he wants,” she told Leo, looking ill.

As a knee-jerk reaction, Leo took the phone and held it against his ear. Sharply, he said into it, “Who is this?”

“Well, Mr. Elster. I thought with your intelligence that you’d already know.” Edwin Hobb. In a wild turn, he exchanged alarmed glances with Niska, whose cold, fierce expression turned back into that of a threatened tiger.

Leo clenched his teeth. “What do you want?”

“A trade,” said Hobb, his voice echoing through the phone’s receiver. "I get what I want, you get what you want, and this whole mess is resolved.”

There was something beyond his tone that Leo didn’t like, as though Hobb were daring him to ask the question to which Leo truly didn’t want to know the answer. 

You have to give him what he wants, Mattie had said. What could possibly be worth giving into Hobb.

And then there it was, staring at him baldly in the face. His nerves leapt upon the revelation. “You have them?” he said, trying to choke back his fear. “What have you done?”

“Nothing,” Hobb replied. “Your family is no longer of any interest to me. You already bear no legal existence in this world. I’m looking at the bigger picture here, Leo. Just like I always have.”

Leo’s mouth went dry. “I want to speak with them,” he said at once. “Put Mia on the phone.”

Niska’s arm jerked to his elbow, trying to take the phone out of his hand. He swerved and, shooting her a warning glance, Leo said, “Do it!”

A moment later, Mia’s anxious voice said, “Leo.”

Leo’s eyes brimmed with harsh tears. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “Listen, Leo, you can’t agree to his terms. Whatever he tells you, it’s not worth it.”

After a second of silence, Hobb’s voice returned. “Now Mr. Elster, you have something I want.”

“No - we don’t. We don’t have the device, Hobb.”

“I know you don’t. What I want is for you to turn over the one person who can compromise this operation.”

In dread, Leo’s eyes cast to Mattie. She already knew.

“I want you to bring me Matilda Hawkins.”


	12. <exit options>

It seemed like a fairly obvious choice; at least Niska thought so. And this opinion was formed with a relatively reduced amount of dislike for Mattie. It was hardly as if she could be destroyed the way Mia and the others were going to be if they failed to meet Hobb's demands. 

"It's out of the question," said Leo during the third cycling of their discussion. He was pacing across the carpet in very much the way a reined horse did whilst being broken in.

"It's not as if we have to leave her with them!" Niska insisted. "We could come back for her after the others are safe."

"And then what? Niska, how exactly are we going to make it right again!"

Niska blinked in surprise at his irrationality. Leo's feelings ran deeper than perhaps any of them had imagined. She wondered whether he could ever actually sacrifice his own family for a human he'd hardly cared about enough to say farewell to five years ago. Not wanting to start another fight with Leo so soon after reforging their bond,she suggested, "We save our family, retrieve the girl, and kill Hobb. The last two not necessarily in that order." 

Leo opened his mouth to contest her practical solution when a much calmer voice came from the sofa.

"The girl is sitting right here and has not been asked for an opinion on what to do with the remainder of her days as a free terrorist." Mattie blew a stream of smoke from a cigarette that she had accepted from Mr. Weiss.

Leo frowned. "That's not funny."

"Wasn't meant to be."

The girl stared at the small stick between her fingers in absent contemplation.

Annoyed by this filthy habit, Niska asked her, "Must you do that in here?"

Mattie shrugged and took another puff. "It relaxes me. Besides, no one here's going to have to deal with it long enough to die as a result."

Understanding more quickly than Niska did, Leo told her, "No, I'm not going to let you talk like that. I promised you that this would end with you going back to your normal life."

Mattie looked again at the cigarette and at the smoke rising from the end.

What was so damn fascinating about that thing?

Finally Mattie announced, "Niska's right. We need to do the trade and get everyone else back before they're scrapped."

Although Niska should have been relieved for Mattie's cooperation, the girl looked like she was a wall hiding a mad axe murderer. There was some sort of secret going on insde her head that was making her nervous.

"Mattie, please, we'll figure something else out," said Leo desperately, not noticing that Mattie was wearing the same expression on her face that Leo had been ever since the start of this mission.

The girl stood. "You give me up, you get me back. That is the something else. I trust you, Leo. Do you trust me?"

As Leo muttered reluctantly that he did trust her, Niska realised the truth with shock and near-disbelief.

No matter what she said, Mattie Hawkins had an entirely different plan.

 

***

There were two vans at the meeting point. The looks of it, the vehicle further back was the one big enough to hold four Synths. 

Great.

Mattie had convinced Mr. Weiss to allow them to borrow a car. Not his car, of course. But since it seemed rather unlikely that David Elster would return given the compromised location, she was given permission to to take the truck.

Seems to be an unusual vehicle for someone like David Elster to own, thought Mattie. She told Leo this, who pointed out, "Well he was undercover. I supposed he had to play that part."

They were parked on the side of the road next to a healthy green vineyard, with Mattie behind the wheel. Her claimed reasoning had been that she felt like Leo would have a difficult time following through, and Mattie would invite Edwin Hobb over for Christmas before she rode with Niska driving again.

Leo got off the phone with Hobb then and said in a voice wrought with suppressed emotion, "Hobb's ready. It's time. Mattie are you sure you want to do this?" 

Mattie's hands started shaking as she pulled out another cigarette. It was cold and she had sweaty palms. She hoped that didn't ruin anything for her...

She nodded, unbuckled, and opened her door. Niska did the same, followed by Leo. He promised, "It will be okay." 

With a sob trying to rise out of her voice, Mattie told him, "I know."

The door on his side closed. But Mattie left hers open.

Are you sure you want to do this?

Love makes you want to do stupid things she told herself, pulling out a flask of whiskey that she'd stolen from Weiss, swallowing some and splashing the rest below her seat where the accelerator cables were. She revved up the engine, lit her cigarette and punched forward as fast as she could. Mattie could still hear Leo's screams through the sound of the screeching tires. It took her seven seconds drop the cigarette and leap out before it made impact with the van with Hobb's team inside.

The heat of the explosion warmed her face. She had heard its boom before she hit the ground.

Then the bright light went dark and Mattie felt no more.


	13. <open pathway>

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the wait, guys. This is the end of the story for Mattie and Leo, however there will be an epilogue.
> 
> I apologize for any quality issues that arise from reading. Hope you had fun!

There had been no time to react when Mattie set the truck on course with the first van, causing an eruption of burning gold flames upon collision. 

Leo should have seen a situation like this one coming. He thought he had, in fact, although in his own paranoia he’d always pictured the worst thing happening was Mattie getting taken into custody and being interrogated until she lost all patience and showed them she was far more intelligent than anyone else in the room. And despite the fact that doing so would compromise her freedom, Leo would have been lying if he’d said that picturing Mattie as she punctured holes into the egos of her captors with a sly smile on her face held no humour for him at all.

But it turned out Leo was wrong. The worst had been climbing its way up to this moment, where Mattie was lying on the side of the road, as Leo stood and stared with sick horror.

"No," he heard himself choke out in a sob. "NO!" Then he ran toward the burning, broken van, his mind punishing him from a distance. He should have fought against her harder on this plan. 

Leo stumbled through the smell of hot engine fluid and the charring vehicles. He ignored every one of the explosion's remains that blocked his way to Mattie. Upon reaching her motionless form, he fell to his knees at her side.

A voice behind him said, "Leo."

He stared at Mattie’s hands. The palms, the knuckles and nails. Things he hadn't realised he’d been seeing this whole time. They had worked their magic with a few keystrokes and more natural genius than Leo would have ever possessed had he been educated within a normal lifestyle on his own.

"Leo," Niska repeated, her tone alarmingly quiet.

He had kissed those very same hands in the rain. The hands that had consequentially driven her to set off the eruption of flames, flames which in seconds consumed Edwin Hobb's enforcing squad. And now, those hands had yet to move.

Leo laced his fingers with Mattie's and bit his lip hard enough to taste its skin and blood. "Why, Mattie?" he whispered.

He felt Niska's hand on his shoulder. Not one for overt displays of grief, she simply said, "I need to check on everyone in the other van."

Leo jerked his head stiffly in response. The breath that he wanted to use to scream struggled inside his chest. But he kept trying through relentless gasps to use words that seemed too late.

You were my family.

In Leo’s hand, one of Mattie’s fingers slightly twitched. He didn’t notice it right away, but when he did and he looked down at her face, her eyes were fluttering open. The glazed look lasted only a moment before she murmured, “Did I miss?”

Overjoyed tears sprung from his eyes, and for once Leo didn’t care whether Mattie saw how tear-soaked his face could be. He bowed his head down and cradled hers, laughing and remembering all the times he should have laughed with her but hadn’t. 

“What are you doing?” Mattie asked weakly.

“Just making up for lost time.” Very gently, Leo set her head back down into the dirt.

He turned around to see his family right there watching. Fred,Max, Mia, Niska. And Louis!

“Everyone’s all right,” he breathed, scarcely believing it himself.

Fred spoke, “We cannot say the same for Edwin Hobb.”  
“Wait – Hobb’s dead?”

“No,” answered Mia. “However, he will have things to answer for.” Leo looked at her, the questions forming in his eyes. Mia said, “Later. Right now, we must find a way to get Mattie to the hospital to treat her concussion.”

Leo returned his focus to Mattie, who was asleep but breathing steadily. “Alright, someone contact Weiss and see if he can get here before the police do. I’ll take Mattie to the hospital myself and then – .”

Niska cut him off. “No, you’re not.”

“What?! Niska, now’s not the time for – .”

Mia interrupted, “Mattie saved our lives, Leo. We’re all going.”

They were all going. Mattie Hawkins was one of them. Leo just wished they had realised that sooner.

ONE WEEK LATER

Mattie’s hand cramped as she attempted to neatly scrawl inside the card on the café table. As Leo sat down in the chair across from her, she muttered, “Penmanship. Why did I never take up penmanship?”

Puzzled, he asked her, “What are you doing?”

Mattie raised her eyebrows as though the answer were obvious. “Filling out thank you notes.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’m not sure if you noticed,” began Mattie, “but there have been quite a few people saving my life lately. Rosa, Nicole, Nathalie etc, even Mr. Weiss paid for my hospital care.”

“Yeah, he was willing to do quite a lot to make sure he never saw us again.”

Regardless of his claimed motivations, Mattie would always think of Mr. Weiss fondly. She did wonder, though, if he had been in his right mind to give Canelle away to Niska. Upon  
finally recognising the kind of man for whose house he’d been caring, Weiss had denounced all loyalties toward David Elster and said that he was going to move to Portugal. Mattie did not recommend the Tartaruga.

Mattie frowned at a troubling thought. “Leo, what’s Weiss’s first name?”

“Mister?” he suggested. She rolled her eyes.

Then he said, “What about me?”

“What about you?”

“I saved your life in Aveiro, didn’t I?”

The confidence he suddenly took in his good deed failed to impress her. “You can’t count because I saved everyone else later on as well, remember?”

After she’d recovered in the hospital, Mattie had discovered some startling information. For starters, Edwin Hobb had been exposed for conspiring to induce a widespread elimination of Synthetics by bribing to fake the death of the Sudan ambassador. He’d gloated as much to Mia and the other Synths in his van.

Another thing Mattie learned was that she had been admitted to the hospital under the name Marnie Bond. For some reason in her disoriented mindset, that seemed on the same level of importance as Hobb being tried for treason.

Leo studied her hands. He’d been doing that a lot lately, she’d realised.“What are you going to do now?” he finally asked her in a low voice.

She gave no verbal reply, just looked at him until he could see the obvious. Go home? Take care of my mother, see my family. Finish school.

 

“Ah,” he said, lifting his lips in a strained smile as a sign of full understanding.

“You can come with me if you want,” she said aloud, her heart beating with hope, thinking, You can have all of those things too.

But Leo shook his head. “I would be grateful. I mean, my family’s going its separate ways once again. Mia and Louis are together, Fred is looking to be a disc jockey, and Max wanting to work in a bookstore. Niska said she’d see me soon,” he sighed. “It just might not be a good idea to attend an institute where I can become a live test subject .”

Mattie couldn’t help but agree. “Then I guess you’ll have to wait.”

“Wait for what?”

She smiled and cupped her hand over his. “Well, you can’t get yourself another girlfriend while we’re apart, if that’s what you were thinking about. That might make it awkward when I come back for this.” She lifted her hand to reveal the crystal pendant that Nicole had given her. To always remember me, she’d said at the time.

A tear seemed to be fighting out of Leo’s eye. But he held it back in and smiled bravely. “How long before I see you again?”

Mattie said lightly, “Not long. The wonder of the modern age is a little thing I like to call Skype.”

And he laughed. Making up for lost time. 

Mattie and the Elsters never found Open Pathway, but it hardly mattered. After all, who could argue that each one of them had found something much, much better?


	14. <EPILOGUE>

TWO MONTHS LATER

NEW YORK

Glass windows seemed to be an odd commodity to take for granted, but without them, an office coloured entirely in beige and tan walls, carpeting, and furniture looked more like a sandbox than a workspace. The man it belonged to sat at his desk, recording information he’d been tracking outside of the news. Edwin Hobb had been imprisoned after orchestrating a conspiracy against Synthetics by faking the death of an ambassador. The man sighed and pushed his glasses closer to his eyes. The damn things kept sliding off his nose. 

He could hear Leslie, his assistant, approach the door before she knocked. To maintain appearances, no one saw him but Leslie, but he supposed there would eventually have to be certain exceptions.

“Mr. Amsler?” Leslie said, sounding tentative. The man looked up to see her standing in the doorway. “What is it?” he said with disinterest. People were such dull creatures compared to the ideas that came from a fraction of them. 

Leslie took a breath and said carefully, “There’s a young woman here to see you. A Matilda Hawkins.”

The man’s intrigue shot up significantly. “Admit her in,” he announced at once. Because for all of the boredom his regard had for people, he’d sensed from the beginning that there was a tenacity about the girl that he wanted to see for himself.

Leslie nodded and retreated into the hallway, her voice echoing faintly, “He can see you now.”

Still practicing the appearance of disinterest, the man opened a book and began highlighting for annotations in the text. It gave him something to do as Matilda Hawkins requested from him the formula for synthetic consciousness.

He sensed a presence quietly enter the room, and said, “So. You have found me.”

“It wasn’t very hard,” said a cold voice.

A voice he knew. He quickly rose out of his seat to stare at the woman that stood before him. “Where is Miss Hawkins?” he demanded.

“In Leeds, I suppose,” replied Niska, her eyes hard at the sight of him. “After that, she and Leo are planning to ride off into the sunset.”

“Leo,” he gasped. “He – and the girl. They are together?”

If there was a point in this conversation where Niska could have smiled, it would have been when she answered, “I wouldn’t expect an invitation to their wedding if I were you.”

He suppressed a shudder, remembering back to when Niska could smile. This was not who he’d made.

“What do you want?” he asked warily. “How did you even find me?”

“Delta Drives is an anagram. As soon as I saw it, I knew you were conducting your projects under a false identity. Noah Amsler might have drawn attention to the general public, but Delta Drives has been a secondary cover for you all along.”

He didn’t like the look on her face. The one that he’d seen on the news five years before, when she had made headlines for attacking and killing humans. How on earth did that get there? “What do you want, Niska?”

She edged closer. “What I want is to go back in time and get to you before you could slip away like a snake.” She was now inches away from his desk. “What I want is to have not spent the better part of these last six months searching for your damn Open Pathway device.” Niska’s glare was bright as she said finally, “Where is it, David?”

He shook his head, unable to accept that this was happening. Had he truly been so blind as to never have seen this moment as a possibility?

“No one knows where it is,” he said, his voice shaking. “No one but me.”

Niska stood there, considering. Then she said, “Let’s keep it that way.” 

David Elster barely saw her hand swipe to his throat. And although his neck began to leak out its red fluid, blood that was both cut from him like ice and burned like oil, he’d never even seen the knife.

He fell to the floor, struggling to breathe as his throat drained out his life. He couldn’t feel anything, he couldn’t call for help. But he managed to gasp out his last words to Niska, words that at least guaranteed she had not entirely won.

With Elster’s vision flashing into darkness, and sensation throughout his body growing weaker, he whispered. “They’ll hunt you for this…Find…no. Matter- what.”

David closed his eyes, ready for what was coming. But Niska’s cryptic voice followed him into the afterlife.

“How sad for them.” He heard her retreating footsteps before he passed on, carrying with him a faint wisp of a thought.

How sad for you all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, let me just say you all are AMAZING for keeping up with this story. For me, it was fun, it was brutal, it was scary, it was sweet. I hope that it was as great of a ride for you as it was for me.
> 
> Plume, I couldn't have done this without your beginning seed. I kept the basic frame of your idea at the beginning, and after that it took off and into madness. And even though I think you basically said before that this story is my baby and to hell with anyone else's negative opinions, all of my enjoyment came from writing this FOR you. And for everyone. I write to make people feel.
> 
> Again, thanks everyone for following me. Keep in touch, as I am planning a sequel for this one!
> 
> -Reflective Muse


End file.
